THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATERS 


HOME   MISSION 
STUDY    COURSE 

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1.  Under  Our  Flag 

A  study  of  conditions  in  America  from  the 
standpoint  of  Woman's  Home  Misionary 
work,  by  Alicb  M.  Guernsey, 

••A  text-book  of  sifted  studies  for  home  tnission 
classes  and  meetings,  with  suggestions  for  various 
uses  of  the  material  it  contaius."—Congregationaiist, 

2.  The   Burden  of  the  City 

By  ISABELLE  HORTON. 

"Settlement  Work,  the  Modem  Church  and  its 
Methods,  the  Deaconess  in  Citv  Missions,  Children's 
Work,  and  Co-operation.  It  constitutes  a  manual  of 
practical  philanthrophy  worthy  of  study  in  all 
churches."— rA«  Outlook. 

3.  Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbors 

By  JULIA  H.  JOHNSTON, 

•'Full  of  information  with  which  every  Christian 
patriot  should  be  familiar  in  regard  to  the  Indians; 
origin,  tribes,  characteristicSj  environment,  lan- 
guage, religion,  wrongs  and  rights,  etc;  also  of  the 
Spanish  speaking  people  in  New  Mesico,  Arizona, 
Califorjiia,  Porto  Rico."— C?/w<  Trees. 

4.  The  Incoming  Millions 

By  HOWARD  B.  GROSE,  D.D. 

To  the  spiritual  need  of  these  incomers  and  their 
influence  upon  us  as  individuals  and  as  a  nation  Dr. 
Grose  has  given  much  study. 

5.  Citizens  of  Tomorrow 

By  ALICE  M.  GUERNSEY 

A  study  of  child-life — its  conditions,  environments, 
etc.— from  the  standpoint  of  Woman's  Home  Mission- 
ary work. 


RUINS   OF   EARLY   CHURCH    (CHURCH   OF   ENGLAND) 
AT   JAMESTOWN,    VA. 


THE    CALL   OF 
THE     WATERS 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  FRONTIER 


By    .' 
KATHARINE  R.  CROWELL 

Author  of  "  Great    Foyages"  "  Africa 
ftr  Juniors,''  "  Pioneers,''  etc.,  etc. 


New  York         Chicago         Toronto 

Fleming  H.   Revell   Company 

London        and        Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  80  Wabash  Avenue 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      100    Princes    Street 


From   the  Editorial  Committee 

Text- books  of  the  Home  Mission   Study  Course 

**  Under  Our  Flag'^  -  -  Alice  M.  Guernsey. 
*'  The  Burdeti  of  the  City  "  -  Isabelle  Horton. 
*'  Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours'''  Julia  H.  Johnston. 
**  The  Incoming  Millions  "  Howard  B.  Grose,  D.D. 
«*  Citizens  of  To-Morrow'^      -      Alice  M.  Guernsey. 

This  newest  volume,  which  the  Interdenomi- 
national Committee  presents  for  study,  deals  not 
with  the  exceptional  peoples  of  our  land,  but 
with  those  who  go  to  make  up  the  warp  and 
woof  of  the  fabric  of  our  national  life. 

The  subject  is  important  and  basic.  It  is  a 
study  of  sources  and  origins,  for  our  nation  has 
evolved  from  frontiers,  and  the  Christian  Church 
has  been  a  potent  factor  in  shaping  national 
development,  by  its  presence  and  influence  in 
each  of  the  successive  frontiers. 

No  more  thrilling  narrative  could  be  offered 
for  study  than  the  story  of  the  opening  up  and 
final  conquering  of  wilderness  after  wilderness,  as 
the  frontier  was  pressed  steadily  westward  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  The  great  distances 
through  roadless  forests,  over  trackless  plains, 
the  constant  danger  from  savage  men  and  savage 
3 


4  From  the  Editoral  Committee 

beasts,  the  hunger,  cold  and  lonehness,  all  these 
made  the  conquering  of  the  frontier  heroic  work, 
indeed;  and  how  the  Church  shared  in  it  all 
"  The  Call  of  the  Waters  "  will  tell  us. 

There  still  Hngers  much  of  the  frontier  in  the 
great  Northwest,  which  is  even  yet  in  process  of 
transformation,  as  are  the  new  states  of  the  South- 
west. 

Nor  can  we  forget  that  there  are  those  who 
to-day,  answering  "  the  call  of  the  waters,"  are 
bringing  with  them,  from  their  far-away  Euro- 
pean and  Asiatic  homes,  a  new  and  peculiar 
frontier,  the  winning  of  which  will  demand  of 
the  Church  her  utmost  of  zeal  and  wisdom  and 
consecration. 

It  is  obvious  that  this  volume  cannot  go  into 
details  of  history.  By  the  many  references  given 
to  historical  sources  such  information  may  be 
readily  obtained. 

The  book  purposes  chiefly  to  present  in  out- 
line pictures  the  successive  frontiers  and  to  set 
before  us  the  share  the  Church  has  had  in  these 
stirring  epochs  of  our  national  life. 


CONTENTS 

The  Frontier  Moving  West- 
ward 

I.  The  Beginning  of  the  Trail  .        .        9 

II.  Following  the  War-Path       .        .      47 

III.  The  Last  Stand  of  the  Frontier    .      69 

The  Twentieth  Century 
"Frontier" 

IV.  The  New  Migration        ...      83 

V.  The  New  Domain    ....      99 

VI.  Blazing  A  New  Trail      .        .        .     U/ 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing  Page 

Ruins  of  Early  Church  (Church  of  England) 
AT  Jamestown,  Va.        .  .  .         .         .    Title 

The  Church  of  the  Pilgrims,  Plymouth,  Mass.,        19 

The  Church  in  the  Fort  ....       39 

First  Baptist  Church,  Providence,  R.  I.  .  .       62 

Wesley  Chapel,  the  Predecessor  of  "  Old  John 

Street  Church  "  .....        89 

The    First     Presbyterian     Church     Building, 
Jamaica,  L.  I.'      .  .  ,  .         ,         .119 


'  From  "  The   Story  of  the   Churches,''  by  courtesy  of  the 
Baker  &  Taylor  Publishing  Company. 


The  Frontier  Moving  Westward 


I 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TRAIL 


THE    BIBLE    LESSON 


THE  RIVER  COURSES 

Thus  saith  the  Lord,  who  maketh  a  way  in  the  sea,  a  path 
in  the  mighty  waters. 

He  cutteth  out  rivers  among  the  rocks ;  and  His  eye  seeth 
every  precious  thing. 

For  He  looketh  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  seeth  under  the 
whole  heaven. 

When  He  maketh  a  weight  for  the  winds,  and  weigheth  the 
waters  by  measure. 

When  He  made  a  decree  for  the  rain,  and  a  way  for  the 
lightning  and  the  thunder. 

He  bindeth  up  the  waters  in  His  thick  clouds;  He  hath 
compassed  the  waters  with  bounds. 

The  waters  saw  Thee,  O  God,  the  waters  saw  Thee. 

Thy  way  was  in  the  sea,  and  Thy  path  in  the  great  waters. 

Thou  didst  cleave  the  earth  with  rivers ;  the  mountains  saw 
Thee  and  trembled  ;  the  overflowing  of  the  waters  passed  by. 

Jehovah,  thy  God,  bringeth  thee  into  a  good  land,  a  land  of 
rivers  of  water,  of  fountains  and  depths  that  spring  out  of 
mountains  and  hills. 

As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water  brooks,  so  panteth  my 
soul  after  Thee. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TRAIL 

IN  the  Long  Ago  in  the  days  when  the 
morning  stars  sang  together,  first  faintly 
sounded  the  distant,  silver  call  of  the  waters. 
Thirsty  animals  felt  the  stirring  of  the  air  and 
turned  quickly  with  hstening  ear.  The  far  off 
music  drew  them  on  over  hills  and  across  vast 
plains,  and  after  many  days  they  reached  the 
singing  river.  These  pathways  to  the  waters, 
trodden  by  trampling  hoofs  for  countless  ages, 
were  the  real  beginnings  of  trails. 

But  the  men  of  the  forest  still  heard  voices 
in  the  thunder  of  the  cataract,  or  rush  of  rapids 
or  in  the  whisperings  of  the  reeds  by  the  river. 

In  birch  canoe  they  followed  the  luring  call 
until  in  gurgling  brook  and  tinkling  spring  the 
silvery  music  seemed  to  die  away.  Yet,  always, 
far  away  was  heard  again  the  mocking,  elusive 
call. 

The  white  man  also  heard  this  call  of  the 
waters.  Because  he  followed  it,  we  have  our 
story  of  the  frontier  and  the  beginning  of  the 
trail. 

The  voyagers  of  old  time  brought  home 
II 


12         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

with  them  to  England  most  beguiling  stories 
of  the  new  world  they  had  discovered.  Gold, 
they  said,  was  to  be  found  in  the  sands  of  the 
rivers  ;  the  Indians  had  "  pecks  of  pearls  "  in  their 
houses,  wore  "  great  plates  of  gold  covering  their 
whole  bodies  like  armour,"  and  the  mountains 
were  veined  through  and  through  with  silver  and 
gold.  It  was  said,  too,  to  be  the  delightful  fact 
that  the  Indians  would  be  only  too  happy  to  re- 
ceive in  exchange  for  the  gold  and  silver,  glass 
beads  and  other  trinkets,  or  even  very  poor  knives 
and  hatchets. 

One  famous  geographer  and  enthusiastic  col- 
onizer, who  early  and  late  told  his  tales  of  won- 
der to  all  who  would  listen,  and  wrote  them  for 
those  who  could  read,  thus  describes  "  the  great 
countreys  "  of  the  "  new  worldes  "  and  their  in- 
habitants and  productions :  "  They  are  fertile," 
he  says,  '•  to  bring  forth  all  manner  of  corne  and 
grayne,  infinite  sortes  of  land  cattell,  as  horse, 
elephantes,  kine,  sheepe,  great  varietie  of  flying 
fowles  of  theayre,  as  pheasants,  partridge,  quayle, 
popingeys,  ostridges,  etc.,  infinite  kinds  of  fruits, 
as  almonds,  dates,  quinces,  pomegranats,  oringes, 
etc.,  holesome,  medicinable  and  delectable." 

The  encouragers  of  colonization  held  out 
hopes  that  any  explorer  or  settler  in  the  new 
country  might  at  some  unexpected  moment  be- 
come famous  and  wealthy  by  the  sudden  discov- 
ery that  a  few  miles  to  the  westward  of  his  cabin 


THE  BEGIKNIKG  OF  THE  TEAIL      13 

there  opened  out  the  great  South  Sea — that  road 
to  spices  and  gold,  which  all  the  world  was  then 
seeking.  It  was  a  credulous  age,  and  with  such 
"  authentic "  reports,  to  say  nothing  of  even 
wilder  rumours  in  the  air,  interest  in  America 
grew  apace.  The  adventurer  saw  fame  awaiting 
him ;  the  poor  man  fancied  he  had  but  to  hold 
out  his  hand  to  receive  riches,  and  to  the  home- 
less and  the  persecuted  came  visions  of  a  home 
where  could  be  glorious  freedom  of  thought  and 
action.  To  them  all — as  always  since  that  day — 
**  America  "  spelled  •'  Opportunity."  Men  and 
women  who  were  brave  enough  and  forceful 
enough  seized  the  opportunity  and  crossed  the 
sea  to  America,  giving  us  our  first  "  frontier," 
the  Atlantic  coast  from  Maine  to  Georgia. 

The  stories  of  the  earliest  colonies  in  America, 
important  and  deeply  interesting  as  they  are, 
scarcely  come  within  the  range  of  our  study ;  yet 
we  cannot  in  the  least  understand  the  westward 
march  of  the  frontier  without  taking  note  of  the 
Spanish  possessions  in  America;  of  the  French 
explorations  and  territorial  claims ;  and  of  the 
early  English  attempts  at  colonization  which, 
notwithstanding  tragic  sufferings  and  disappoint- 
ments, and  sometimes  failure,  were  productive  of 
important  results. 

Though  these  fascinating  but  devious  trails 
would,  in  the  end,  surely  bring  us  to  the  "  fron- 
tier," our  way  to  it  must  be  more  direct.     Yet 


14         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

we  may  allow  ourselves  a  glance  out  over  the 
*'  Sea  of  Darkness  " — which  we  now  know  as  the 
Atlantic  Ocean — only  a  little  less  mysterious  and 
frightful  in  these  still  early  days  than  when 
Columbus  and  his  three  little  ships  ventured  forth 
over  its  unknown  wastes.         , 

As,  in  imagination,  we  look  out  over  the  waters 
towards  the  rising  sun,  we  discern  here  and  there 
interesting  vessels  drawn  on  their  difficult  way  by 
the  allurements  of  the  new  world.  On  the  south- 
ern waters  are  Spanish  galleons — the  "  liners  "  of 
that  day — which  will  presently  return  home,  laden 
perhaps  with  gold ;  we  seem  to  see,  too,  fleets  of 
courageous  little  boats  manned  by  Frenchmen 
bound  for  the  Northern  Sea,  where  the  abound- 
ing fish  will  prove  their  sure  gold  mine.  A 
curious  looking  craft  approaches  the  shore — 
much  farther  north  than  was  intended  by  its  cap- 
tain ;  but  by  this  inadvertent  landing  Cabot  se- 
cures for  England  the  Atlantic  coast  from  New- 
foundland to  Florida.  There  are  Raleigh's  ill- 
fated  ships  ;  and  others  which,  having  crossed  the 
sea,  are  now  hopefully  pushing  up  the  rivers 
whose  seductive  call  lures  them  on  and  on,  but 
never  out  into  that  fragrant  and  glittering  and 
long  promised  sea  of  spices  and  gold. 

But  what  matters  it  when  the  land  already  dis- 
covered is  rich  and  fertile  and  beautiful !  A  land 
where  even  cooking  vessels  are  made  of  silver 
and  gold,  and  where  in  the  great  forests  are  little 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TEAIL      15 

children  whose  necklaces  of  diamonds  flash  among 
the  trees,  while  gorgeous  birds  glitter  in  the 
branches  above  them  ! 

Was  not  this  wealth  enough  ?  Leading  mer- 
chants of  England  thought  so,  and  in  1606  two 
trading  companies  were  organized.  These  ob- 
tained charters  from  King  James  I,  and  were 
known  as  the  London  and  Plymouth  companies. 

Emigrants  to  the  new  world  were  quickly 
found  ;  and  again  our  fancy  wanders  out  over  the 
waters,  where  coming  over  the  sea  are  the  ships 
of  the  Jamestown  colony — the  God  Speed,  the 
Discovery  and  the  Susan  Coiistant ;  then  the 
Half-Moon  ;  later  the  unhappy  Treasurer,  then 
the  Mayflower.  Other  ships  follow  these  and 
XYiQ  frontier  and  our  study  of  it  begin. 

We  are  studying  the  frontier,  and  not  a  history 
of  the  United  States,  except  in  so  far  as  the  de- 
velopment of  the  one  has  made  the  other  ;  there- 
fore we  leave  to  the  formal  historian  matters  gen- 
erally treated  of  when  the  Jamestown  settlers, 
the  Dutch  patroons,  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Puri- 
tans are  discussed,  and  consider  chiefly  their 
struggles  to  overcome  frontier  conditions,  and  es- 
pecially the  efforts  of  the  New  England  pioneers 
to  imbed  firmly  in  the  foundations,  the  princi- 
ples of  that  righteous  commonwealth  which  they 
had  sailed  over  sea  to  build. 

Frontier  conditions  were  nowhere  more  dif- 
ficult than  in  New  England,  and  we  shall  dwell 


16         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

upon  them  somewhat  at  length,  bearing  in  mind 
that  many  experiences  of  tlie  Pilgrims  and  Puri- 
tans were  common  to  all  the  colonies  and  that  in 
them  aU  were  planted  great  treasures  of  manli- 
ness and  womanliness,  of  faith  and  courage  and 
devotion  to  the  best  ideals  they  knew. 

The  first  immigrants  came  to  this  country  as  a 
product  of  the  civilization  of  Europe ;  they  found 
a  wild  wilderness,  and  "  primitive  man."  For  the 
moment,  we  are  curious  as  to  which  will  conquer. 
But  we  recall  the  story  of  the  first  settlements,  and 
there  is  no  question  about  it ;  for  a  time,  at  least, 
Europe  was  vanquished  and  "  primitive  man " 
was  the  victor. 

We  remember  the  fascination  of  that  dignified 
son  of  the  forest  who  one  day  issued  from  its 
glades  and  to  the  Pilgrim's  astonishment,  and  to 
ours  as  well,  uttered  in  good  English  the  classic 
words,  *'  Welcome,  Englishmen  !  " 

As  we  shall  see,  it  would  have  been  a  sorry 
day  for  America  if  the  red  man  had  not  at  that 
moment  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  paleface. 

We  pass  over  the  first  terrible  winter  in  the 
Plymouth  colony.  In  the  early  spring  there  went 
forth  into  the  wilderness  a  pathetic  little  group, 
all  who  were  left  of  the  Mayflower  voyagers. 
Friendly  Indians  accompanied  them  and,  in 
every  point  but  one,  primitive  man  had  the 
advantage.  He  shows  the  European  how  to  cut 
down  the  trees  of  the  forest — he  himself  having 


THE  BEGII^NING  OF  THE  TRAIL      17 

perhaps  learned  the  lesson  from  the  beaver — how 
to  build  a  house,  how  to  clear  away  the  forest  to 
make  space  for  planting  seeds. 

But  the  month  of  March  seems  a  little  early, 
does  it  not,  to  plant  seeds?  On  this  stern  New 
England  coast  the  snow  still  lingered  and  under- 
neath it  was  hard  frozen  ground. 

This  is  the  way  the  Indian  conquered  these 
conditions  and  secured  early  spring  vegetables. 
Trees  were  chopped  down  over  a  wide  space  and 
allowed  to  remain  where  they  fell.  By  means  of 
twirHng  one  stick  of  wood  upon  another,  the 
mass  of  tangled  branches  was  set  on  fire.  The 
great  heat  melted  the  snow,  and  thawed  out  the 
frozen  ground ;  the  fire  burned  down,  leaving  a 
thick  layer  of  ashes.  In  these  warm  ashes  the 
Indian  planted  corn  and  pumpkin  seed  and 
beans.  Before  this  he  had  taught  the  white  man 
to  fish,  and  knowing  the  sterility  of  the  soil,  he 
directed  him  while  planting  the  corn — ^just  so 
many  kernels  to  a  hillock — to  drop  in  a  fish  as  a 
fertilizer. 

At  the  base  of  the  hillock  beans  were  planted, 
— to  climb  the  corn  stalks  by  and  by — and  be- 
tween the  rows  were  set  the  seeds  of  the  pump- 
kin vine. 

As  primitive  man  taught  so  does  the  one-time 
European  to  this  day ! 

The  European  would  have  starved  to  death  in 
this  first  frontier,  and  there   might  never  have 


18         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

been  a  second,  had  it  not  been  for  the  friendly  In- 
dian. He  taught  him — perhaps  the  Indian  woman 
was  in  many  instances  the  teacher — how  to  find 
and  kill  animals,  to  dig  clams,  to  catch  eels,  to 
fish ;  and  how  to  prepare  and  cook  the  food. 
He  showed  them  the  use  of  the  "  sugar  trees  " 
and  how  to  secure  wild  honey.  Later  on,  when 
the  green  corn  was  ready,  it  was  the  Indian 
woman  who  roasted  it  in  hot  ashes  to  show  the 
paleface  the  proper  way  of  cooking  and  serv- 
ing. In  the  autumn  when  the  ears  were  golden 
the  Indians  ground  the  kernels  in  a  mill  of 
their  own  contriving  and  then  initiated  the 
settlers'  wives  into  the  mysteries  of  "  sup- 
pawn,"  **  pones  "  and  "  succotash."  They  also 
parched,  or,  as  we  more  expressively  say,  popped 
the  corn  as  a  provision  for  long  hunting  trips, 
and,  in  a  crowning  effort,  taught  the  art  of  bak- 
ing beans  in  an  earthen  jar. 

As  to  clothing  it  would  seem  that  the  stalwart 
materials  in  which  the  colonists  were  attired 
on  their  arrival  in  the  wilderness  would  never 
wear  out.  But  they  did,  and  anything  to  re- 
place them  was  three  thousand  miles  away.  As 
always,  the  wilderness  and  the  Indian  met  the 
demand,  and  ever  after  until  "  linsey  woolsey  " 
was  a  possibility  the  settlers  wore  garments  of 
leather — having  learned  from  the  Indians  how  to 
tan  and  sew  it. 

The  European  stood  by  and  watched  while  the 


THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  PILGRIMS,  PLYMOUTH,  MASS. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TRAIL      19 

Indian  fashioned  a  bark  canoe  ;  later  he  made  his 
own.  He  learned  also  to  make  a  pirogue — other- 
wise known  as  a  dug-out.  He  wore  moccasins 
and  travelled  on  snow-shoes,  as  the  Indian  taught 
him. 

Here  then  are  our  colonists  in  their  second 
winter  by  the  sea,  comfortable  in  strong  log 
cabins — of  Indian  make — which  are  lighted  in 
the  long  evenings  by  the  flames  of  the  roaring 
fire  in  the  big  chimney  place,  and  by  blazing 
pine-knots,  which  they  must  have  some  reason 
for  caUing  "  Indian  candles." 

Fathers  and  mothers  and  children  are  dressed 
in  the  before- mentioned  leather  garments,  and 
the  babies,  warmly  wrapped  in  fur,  arc  lying 
cozily  in  Indian  cradles. 

The  day's  work  in  the  clearing  and  the  house 
has  given  hearty  appetites  for  venison,  baked 
beans  and  wild  turkey,  and  for  maple  syrup  and 
*•  jonny  "  cake  of  fine  flavour  because  baked  ac- 
cording to  careful  instructions  on  a  plank  of  red 
oak  over  a  fire  of  black  walnut  logs.  Outside 
the  snow  falls,  the  winds  roar,  the  wolves  howl — 
what  care  they  ? 

So  we  leave  them  in  their  Indian  house,  by 
their  Indian  warmth  and  light,  in  their  Indian 
clothing  and  with  plentiful  supply  of  Indian  food. 
Is  European  civilization,  or  the  wilderness  and 
primitive  man  the  conqueror  ? 

The   Indian   revealed  to  the  white  man  the 


20         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

sealed  secrets  of  the  forest.  The  white  man  owed 
to  him,  food,  clothing,  home,  life  itself.  Just 
here  two  questions  arise  for  answer : 

What  service  did  the  white  man  render  the 
Indian  in  payment  of  this  debt  ? 

Why  did  the  Indian,  friendly  at  first,  so  soon 
become  the  deadly  enemy  of  the  Enghsh  settler, 
while  he  continued  to  be  the  friend  of  the  French 
invaders  of  Canada  ? 

We  should  admit  however  that  in  the  winning 
of  his  home,  the  colonist  had  two  mighty  ad- 
juncts to  the  Indian  resources — his  axe  and  his 
firearms.  And  it  is  by  these  two  weapons  of  the 
pioneer  that  we  shall  see  the  extension  of  the 
frontier — yet  hardly  without  the  support  of  the 
**  pemmican  "  of  the  Indian ;  and  both  axe  and 
rifle  had  large  share  in  turning  the  friendly  Indian 
into  the  settler's  implacable  foe. 

In  this  first  frontier,  conditions  rapidly  im- 
proved and  each  succeeding  party  of  immigrants 
learned  wisdom  from  the  hardships  and  suffering 
of  the  earlier  arrivals  and  came  out  from  Eng- 
land better  supplied  with  the  necessities  of  life  or 
the  means  of  producing  them.  Cattle  and  sheep 
were  brought  over  and,  if  not  killed  by  wolves, 
throve  well  in  the  new  land. 

As  more  forest  was  cleared  away,  hemp  and 
flax  were  planted  and  the  hum  of  the  spinning- 
wheel  and  clatter  of  the  loom  were  heard  in  the 
land.     Windmills,  sawmills,  and  grist-mills  made 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TRAIL      21 

life  easier  than  in  the  days  when  the  axe  did  all 
the  cutting  of  wood  and  the  noisy  Indian  mortar 
must  grind  all  the  meal. 

Already,  too,  in  the  New  England  frontier 
were  the  first  plantings  of  ideas  that  have  since 
become  the  glory  of  America.  In  the  first  place 
there  was  to  be  in  the  colony  of  Plymouth  a  free 
government  in  which  every  man  was  to  take 
part.  Each  man  was  to  win  from  the  wilderness 
his  own  home  in  which  the  principles  of  the 
Christian  religion  were  to  be  practiced. 

The  Sabbath  was  to  be  observed  as  a  day  of 
rest  and  worship.  Each  community  was  to  have 
its  church,  its  town  hall  in  which  matters  of  pub- 
lic interest  were  discussed,  and  its  school,  to 
which  all  children  were  compelled  to  go. 

The  settlements  at  first  clung  to  the  seacoast, 
but  very  soon  groups  of  daring  men  and  women 
began  to  move  westward,  along  the  beginning  of 
the  trail ;  northward,  too,  and  southward.  They 
had  various  reasons  for  going ;  the  more  fertile 
land  of  the  river  valleys  attracted  them  ;  back  in 
the  forests  they  would  still  find  the  fur-bearing 
animals,  which  were  their  chief  source  of  wealth  ; 
but  more  influential  than  these  causes  was  the 
fact  that  time  had  shown  that  while  the  Pilgrims 
and  Puritans  passionately  desired  freedom  to 
worship  God  in  the  way  they  thought  to  be 
right,  they  did  not  see  the  necessity  or  justice  of 
allowing  to  others  similar  liberty  of  conscience. 


22         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATERS 

The  persecution  which  had  been  their  lot  in 
England,  they  now  dealt  out  with  stern  and  un- 
sparing hand  to  those  who  refused  to  see  the 
truth  as  they  saw  it  and  to  obey  the  laws  of  the 
new  commonwealth,  with  the  result  that  many 
good  men  and  women,  exiled  from  the  Massa- 
chusetts Colony,  went  forth  once  more  into  the 
wilderness. 

These  persecutions  brought  great  suffering  but 
led  to  good  results;  for  presently,  in  1636,  we 
find  a  new  settlement  far  "  out  West."  Starting 
from  Boston  the  Connecticut  River  was  a  long 
way  off  for  Thomas  Hooker  and  his  congrega- 
tion who  travelled  thither  afoot,  driving  their 
cattle,  and  living  mostly  upon  milk.  The  towns 
they  built  were  soon,  by  a  written  agreement, 
united  in  one  government,  to  which  was  given 
the  name  of  Connecticut — the  first  government 
in  the  world  to  be  created  by  a  written  constitu- 
tion. About  the  same  time  Roger  Williams  be- 
gan a  settlement  on  Narragansett  Bay.  He 
called  this  settlement  Providence,  and  here  was 
established  genuine  religious  freedom ;  no  one 
was  to  be  banished  from  his  home  on  account  of 
religious  belief,  and  no  one  could  be  punished 
by  the  government  for  the  way  in  which  he 
worshipped  God.  The  establishment  of  these 
colonies  adds  two  great  items  to  our  bill  of 
obligations  to  the  New  England  frontier — the 
first  democracy  with  a  written  constitution,  and 


THE  BEGmKING  OF  THE  TRAIL     23 

the  first  government  permitting  individual  relig- 
ious liberty. 

As  towns  and  villages  grew,  churches  also 
became  numerous  and  within  ten  years  of  the 
landing  of  the  Puritans  thirty  churches  were 
established.  It  was  difficult  to  secure  ministers 
to  serve  so  many,  and  it  was  at  all  times  a  matter 
of  many  months'  waiting,  for  all  must  come  over 
sea.  It  was  necessary  to  educate  for  the  min- 
istry young  men  of  the  colonies,  and  accord- 
ingly, in  these  early  days,  six  years  after  the 
arrival  of  John  Winthrop,  a  college  was  founded 
and  later  named  for  John  Harvard,  who  appears 
on  this  first  frontier  as  the  first  in  the  long  line 
of  munificent  endowers  of  American  colleges. 

While  New  England  was  thus  laying  founda- 
tions, stones  were  also  set  by  other  colonies. 

One  of  the  ships  coming  over  sea  was  the  Half- 
Moon.  We  know  the  captain  well — through  the 
magic  of  Irving's  tales.  Have  we  not  often 
heard  him  rolling  tenpins  among  those  beautiful 
hills  which  the  Half-Moon,  sailing  up  an  en- 
chanting river,  helped  him  to  discover  ? 

Hendrik  Hudson  hoped  that  this  same  river 
might  soon  lead  him  out  to  the  Pacific  Ocean — 
which  was  popularly  supposed  to  lie  about  two 
hundred  miles  west  of  the  Atlantic.  He  did  not 
find  this  much  searched  for  Northwest  Passage, 
but,  sailing  back  again  down  the  shining  river, 
he  brought  with  him,  in  the  furs  which  stocked 


24         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

the  Half-Mooity  richer  wealth  than  the  gold  and 
spices  of  the  Indies. 

These  furs  and  Hudson's  tales  of  inexhaustible 
supplies  to  be  had  for  the  shooting,  or  by  trade 
with  the  Indians,  speedily  brought  over  a  colony 
from  Holland  who  made  their  first  settlement  at 
the  mouth  of  Hudson's  river,  but  in  the  pursuit 
of  richer  and  yet  richer  furs  soon  dotted  its 
banks  as  far  north  as  Albany  with  trading  posts 
and  forts.  The  object  of  this  Dutch  colony  was 
trade  in  furs ;  yet  the  first  frontier  gained  from 
it  the  first  free  churches  and  the  first  free  public 
schools  of  America ;  not  to  speak  of  many  pleas- 
ant things  which  also  we  inherit  from  the  first 
frontier  and  its  Dutch  occupation ;  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  observance  of  New  Year's  Day, 
Christmas  and  Easter. 

In  the  founding  of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsyl- 
vania were  set  many  goodly  stones.  As  we  think 
of  them  they  seem  to  parallel  the  "  fruits  of  the 
Spirit "  :  •'  Love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gen- 
tleness, goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance." 

The  gentle-minded  and  sorely-persecuted 
"  Friends  "  or  Quakers  ;  prisoners  released  from 
the  cruel  and  horrible  bondage  of  English  pris- 
ons ;  families  made  homeless  and  wageless  by  in- 
dustrial changes  in  England ;  Germans  crowded 
out  of  their  fatherland — all  of  these  and  many 
others  who  suffered,  found  refuge  and  peace  and 
plenty  in  William  Penn's  free  state. 


THE  BEGIMfING  OF  THE  TEAIL      25 

This  frontier  was  a  pleasant  place.  Fair  deal- 
ing with  the  Indians  ensured  happy  and  peaceful 
homes,  the  colonists  were  earnest  Christians — 
«*  diligent  in  business,"  as  well  as  "  fervent  in 
spirit "  and  kindly  in  act.  There  were  soon  a 
flourishing  commerce,  the  finest  farms  of  the  first 
frontier,  publishing  houses,  and  the  printing  of 
the  Bible. 

Think  for  a  moment  of  our  present  hospitals 
and  of  the  noble  work  they  do,  and  of  our  col- 
leges for  women,  and  the  work  they  do !  For 
their  beginnings  we  go  back  to  the  first  frontier 
and  to  William  Penn  and  his  Quakers,  for  it  is  to 
their  practical  Christianity  that  we  owe  the  idea 
of  a  College  of  Medicine,  and  of  equal  opportu- 
nities of  education  for  men  and  for  women. 

Geographically,  we  come  now  to  Maryland — 
lovely  Maryland  !  No  wonder  that  all  who  can, 
say  "  Maryland,  my  Maryland  !  "  In  the  whirli- 
gig of  time  there  came  a  period  when  persecution 
was  meted  out  to  Roman  Catholics.  To  them 
America  offered  an  asylum  and  an  opportunity — 
and,  strange  to  say,  the  Roman  Catholic  founders 
of  the  colony  extended  this  opportunity  to  Prot- 
estants as  well,  and  the  first  legislative  action 
proclaiming  religious  toleration  we  set  down  to 
the  credit  of  Maryland.  A  man  might  in  this 
colony  be  free  from  molestation,  whether  a  mem- 
ber of  Roman  Catholic,  Episcopalian,  Presby- 
terian, Baptist,  or   other   Church.     It   was   two 


26         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

years  later,  as  we  have  seen,  that  Roger  Williams 
advanced  even  farther  in  allowing  individuals  to 
hold  any  form  of  Christian  behef,  whether  mem- 
bers of  churches  or  not. 

Virginia  had  become  fairly  prosperous  by  the 
time  the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth ;  but  its 
tragic  experiences  had  prevented  the  carrying 
out  of  many  noble  plans  which  were  in  the  hearts 
of  the  founders  of  the  colony.  So  we  miss  in  its 
first  frontier  some  things  that  but  for  starvation 
and  the  Indians  might  have  been  there. 

In  Virginia  were  (gw  towns  but  many  large 
plantations.  It  was  not  desired  that  the  children 
of  the  workers  on  these  plantations  should  be  ed- 
ucated. Schools  were  few  and  only  for  sons  of 
the  planters,  who  were,  moreover,  generally  sent 
to  England  to  be  educated.  Their  education, 
the  care  of  large  estates  and  oversight  of  large 
bodies  of  labourers,  trained  the  men  of  the  south- 
ern frontier  for  leadership,  and  the  time  was  com- 
ing when  all  the  colonies  would  be  in  great  need 
of  leaders.  In  Virginia,  as  in  New  England,  at- 
tendance upon  the  services  of  the  church  was  ob- 
ligatory, and  during  the  frontier  period  many 
churches  were  built, — the  first  being  the  church 
of  Jamestown. 

To  the  Virginia  frontier  we  owe  also  the  first 
representative  convention  of  lawmakers. 

Carolina  was  cut  off  from  Virginia,  and  later 
was  divided  into  two  royal  provinces,  North  and 


THE  BEGINKING  OF  THE  TEAIL     27 

South  Carolina.  These  had  a  mild  climate  and  a 
rich  soil ;  the  colonists  were  English,  Scotch- 
Irish,  French  Huguenots  and  Dutch,  and  the 
region  speedily  became  prosperous, — and  "  or- 
thodox "  as  well. 

North  Carolina  had  small  plantations  of  corn 
and  tobacco  cultivated  by  slaves ;  the  Southern 
province  had  immense  plantations  of  indigo  and 
rice,  also  worked  by  slaves.  Many  of  the  wealthy 
planters  lived  in  Charleston,  carried  on  a  brisk 
commerce  with  England,  and  sent  their  sons 
"  home  "  to  be  educated. 

Georgia's  "  frontier  "  did  not  begin  until  Vir- 
ginia and  New  England  had  been  progressing  for 
a  hundred  years  and  more.  Its  reason  for  being 
was  to  give  a  chance  in  life  to  thousands  of  debt- 
ors shut  up  in  English  jails,  in  most  wretched 
surroundings  and  utterly  without  hope.  Thus 
Georgia's  frontier  lays  one  more  philanthropic 
stone  in  our  foundations. 

It  is  also  interesting  to  observe  that  in  this 
colony  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquor  was  prohib- 
ited by  law. 

Georgia  brings  us  to  our  geographical  limit, 
for  on  its  southern  side  is  Florida,  then  a  part  of 
the  Spanish  possessions  in  America.  It  assigns 
to  us  also  almost  the  time  limit  of  the  first  frontier, 
for  a  few  years  after  its  founding  the  first  great 
westward  movement  began. 

And  let  us  bear  in  mind  that  now  in  the  sec- 


2S  THE  CALL  OF  THE  YTATEES 

ond  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  New  England 
has  many  villages  and  towns,  much  manufactur- 
ing, for  the  many  swift  streams  furnish  abundant 
water  power  for  mills  and  factories,  much  com- 
mercial activity  also,  and  many  churches ;  Har- 
vard, Yale,  Brown  and  Dartmouth  Colleges  are 
flourishing,  and  a  strong  people,  mostly  Puritans, 
who  are  striving  to  live  according  to  the  Ten 
Commandments.  New  York  has  a  mixed  pop- 
ulation— of  Dutch  and  English,  with  a  few 
French  Huguenots.  There  were  at  this  time 
many  good  schools,  and  in  the  city  of  New  York 
was  King's  College,  now  Columbia  University. 

Pennsylvania  was  flourishing  and  Philadelphia 
a  city  of  great  interest.  The  Quakers,  Moravians 
and  Germans  had  some  excellent  private  schools, 
and  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  was  a  pioneer 
in  offering  courses  of  study  in  law,  medicine  and 
science.  New  Jersey  rejoiced  in  many  beautiful 
farms,  an  English — largely  Quaker — population, 
and  the  new-born  College  of  New  Jersey. 

Virginia,  Maryland  and  the  Carolinas  were 
largely  Episcopal  as  New  England  was  largely 
Puritan ;  agriculture  was  the  chief  pursuit,  rivers 
were  the  chief  means  of  communication.  Large 
plantations  were  the  rule  and  the  people  were 
of  three  classes,  planters,  negroes,  and  "  poor 
whites." 

From  Maryland  to  Georgia  there  was  but  one 
institution   of  higher   learning — the   College  of 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TEAIL      29 

William  and  Mary ;  and  this  was  mainly  for 
planters'  sons. 

The  Church  of  England  was  established  in 
the  southern  colonies  about  as  Congregationalism 
was  established  in  New  England  and  the  middle 
colonies. 

Roads  were  few  and  usually  bad.  Pennsyl- 
vania alone  had  cause  for  pride  in  this  line; 
bridges  were  also  few.  Rivers  were  forded  or 
crossed  on  rafts ;  there  were  a  few  funny  little 
ferries — as  it  would  seem  to  us  now ;  but  they 
were  indeed  a  blessing  then. 

Boston  was  six  days  from  New  York,  and 
Philadelphia  two  or  three  days, — by  stage  coach. 
Very  few  people  in  those  days  "  possessed  the 
world  by  travelling." 

On  the  water,  travel  was  by  slow  sailing 
vessel  or  by  canoe. 

Mails  were  irregular — to  state  the  case  mildly. 
There  was  no  daily  newspaper,  but  there  were  a 
few  weeklies,  poorly  printed,  we  should  think. 

The  population  of  the  colonies  was  about  a 
million  and  a  half,  and  the  Star  of  Empire — ac- 
cording to  Bishop  Berkeley — or  the  centre  of 
population,  according  to  the  census  map — stood 
over  the  head  of  Chesapeake  Bay. 


At  this  point  we  should  notice  three  great  happenings,  not 
because  they  pertain  to  the  first  frontier,  for  the  Atlantic  coast 
has  passed  out  of  the  frontier  stage,  but  because  of  their  effect 


30         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATERS 

on  the  character  of  many  who  should  soon  go  forth  to  influence 
the  second  frontier. 

The  earliest  of  these  events  was  the  establishment,  largely 
through  the  efforts  of  Dr.  Bray,  a  Maryland  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England,  of  the  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  for  the  spreading  of  the  Gospel  in  the 
"colonies,  factories,  and  plantations  of  England,"  and  it  is 
with  a  strange  little  thrill  that  we  realize  that  we  were  chiefly 
the  "  Foreign  Parts,"  for  whose  welfare  especially  the  Society 
was  organized.  "  We  "  in  the  colonies  of  Virginia,  Maryland 
and  the  Carolinas ;  and  also  for  the  "  first  Americans,"  Indian 
tribes  whose  homes  were  in  our  southern  territory.  There  was 
ample  justification  for  these  efforts  for  the  later  immigration  had 
not  always  been  for  conscience'  sake,  and  there  was  great  need 
for  a  planting  of  righteousness  in  the  land. 

The  second  happening  was  the  Great  Revival,  which  pro- 
foundly influenced  all  classes  in  New  England,  and  especially 
the  leaders  of  religious  thought,  and  indirectly  produced  im- 
portant results  elsewhere.  Jonathan  Edwards  was  preeminent 
in  this  Revival. 

I>astly  there  was  the  Great  Awakening  whose  beginning  was 
in  the  year  1740  when  George  Whitefield  first  came  to  America. 
As  its  name  implies,  this  movement  awakened  as  from  a  deep 
sleep  the  churches  throughout  the  land,  and  much  after-good 
can  be  traced  to  it.  Princeton  and  Dartmouth  Colleges  were 
indirect  results  of  the  Great  Awakening. 


THE  FIRST  "  CHURCH  "  AT  JAMESTOWN 

After  a  long  and  stormy  passage,  the  three  ships, — the  God 
Speed,  the  Discovery  and  the  Susan  Cojistant, — entered  Chesa- 
peake Bay  in  the  last  week  in  April,  and  made  their  way  into 
Hampton  Roads.  The  name  Point  Comfort  testifies  to  their  re- 
lief and  joy.  Sailing  up  the  wide  river  which  they  named  for 
King  James,  their  patron,  they  disembarked  on  the  13th  of  May 
at  a  little  peninsula.  They  called  the  place  Jamestown,  thus 
connecting    the    king's  name   with    English    Christianity   in 


[ 


THE  BEGINNIKG  OF  THE  TEAIL      31 

America,  as  it  was  soon  to  be  connected  with  the  English 
Bible. 

They  landed  on  Wednesday.  On  Thursday,  they  set  about 
the  erection  of  a  fort,  a  three-cornered  structure  with  a  cannon 
at  each  angle.  They  prepared  for  Sunday  by  hanging  up  an 
old  sail,  fastening  it  to  three  or  four  trees,  to  shelter  them  from 
sun  and  rain  ;  seats  they  made  of  logs;  a  bar  of  wood  between 
two  trees  served  for  a  pulpit. 

There  in  the  wilderness,  with  the  river  before,  and  the  un- 
broken forest  behind,  every  day  began  and  ended  with  the 
Prayer-book  prayers. — Hodges. 

•'THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FORT" 
The  first  religious  service  on  Manhattan  Island  was  held  in 
the  trading  post  established  here  by  the  Dutch  in  1614,  five 
years  after  the  first  landing  made  by  Hendrik  Hudson.  The 
first  New  York  pastor  was  the  Rev.  Jonas  Michaelius.  The  first 
permanent  church  was  regularly  organized  by  this  pastor  in  the 
summer  of  1628.  This  church,  known  to-day  as  the  Collegiate 
Church  of  New  York,  is  the  oldest  with  a  continuous  history  in 
America.  The  first  place  of  stated  worship  was  in  the  ample 
loft  of  a  horse-mill,  so  called  to  distinguish  it  from  two  others 
which  were  windmills,  and  is  now  known  as  32  and  34  South 
William  Street.  The  first  church  bell  in  New  York,  captured 
by  the  Dutch  in  1625  from  the  Spaniards  in  Porto  Rico,  pealed 
out  its  call  to  worship  from  the  belfry  of  this  horse-mill  church. 
The  first  ruling  elder  of  this  first  church  was  Peter  Minuit,  who 
was  also  the  first  Director-General  of  this  Commonwealth  and 
the  first  of  the  great  Dutch  Patroons,  "  a  wholly  incorruptible 
man."  The  first  real  estate  transaction  on  Manhattan  was  the 
purchase  of  the  whole  island  by  Peter  Minuit,  and  the  myn- 
heers of  this  church,  for  the  modest  sum  of  sixty  florins  (^24.00). 
The  first  school,  founded  in  1633  by  the  Dutch  Church,  with 
Adam  Roelantsen  as  the  first  schoolmaster,  is  now  the  Collegiate 
School  at  77th  Street  and  West  End  Avenue,  and  is  the  oldest 
educational  institution  in  America.  The  first  church  organ 
used  in  New  York  was  one  presented  to  the  Consistory  of  the 


32         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

Dutch  Church  by  Governor  Burnet  in  1720.  The  first  sanctu- 
ary erected  on  Manhattan  Island  exclusively  for  worship  was  a 
wooden  edifice  built  in  1633  on  the  site  now  39  Pearl  Street. 
This  in  turn  was  followed  by  a  stone  structure,  built  within  the 
ramparts  in  1642,  known  as  "The  Church  in  the  Fort."  The 
tenth  building  in  this  historic  series  of  sanctuaries  is  the  Marble 
Collegiate  Church,  at  Fifth  Avenue  and  29th  Street.  It  is  built 
of  Hastings  Marble  in  Romanesque  style.  Its  massive  clock  and 
bell  tower  terminates  in  a  spire  215  feet  high,  surmounted  by 
a  gilded  weathercock  six  and  one  half  feet  high,  after  the  man- 
ner of  early  Dutch  churches. 

THE  PILGRIM  CATHEDRAL 
"  We  cannot  too  often  read  the  story  which  tells  how  the 
Mayflower  Pilgrims  landed  upon  those  desolate  shores.  Every 
reading  of  it  sets  the  pulses  throbbing  with  nobler  resolves  and 
higher  impulses.  As  they  landed  the  waves  broke  over  them, 
and  as  the  water  struck  them  it  froze,  and  they  stood  in  ice, 
clothed  as  in  coats  of  mail.  But  they  landed,  and  when  they 
landed  they  remembered  whence  they  came  and  why,  and  they 
knelt  in  prayer  and  in  a  new  dedication  to  God  and  to  the 
cause  which  brought  them  there. 

"  *  Amid  the  storm  they  sang,  and  the  stars  heard  and  the  sea, 
And  the  sounding  aisles  of  the  dim  woods  rang  to  the  anthem 
of  the  free.' 

"  They  built  their  church  and  beside  the  church  their  schools, 
and  there  they  grew  and  produced  men  worth  producing." 


"  On  the  brow  of  the  hill  overlooking  the  bay  where  the 
Mayflower  was  moored,  they  have  reared  a  colossal  statue. 
On  the  four  corners  of  the  pedestal  repose  four  figures  repre- 
senting law,  morality,  freedom,  and  education.  There  ought 
they  to  rest  by  right.  But  above  these  stands  erect  the  gigantic 
figure  of  Faith.  Thirty-six  feet  she  rises  from  the  foot,  which 
rests  on  a  slate  of  Plymouth  Rock,  to  her  brow  bound  with 


I  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TEAIL      33 

evergreen  laurels.  With  one  hand  she  grasps  an  open  Bible  : 
with  the  other  she  points  the  nation  up  to  God." — Christian 
America. 


ONE  ITEM  OF  OUR  DEBT 
A  great  field  of  tall  Indian  corn  waving  its  stately  and 
luxuriant  green  blades,  its  graceful  spindles,  and  glossy  silk 
under  the  hot  August  sun,  should  be  not  only  a  beautiful  sight 
to  every  American,  but  a  suggestive  one  ;  one  to  set  us  think- 
ing of  all  that  Indian  corn  means  to  us  in  our  history.  It  was 
a  native  of  American  soil  at  the  settlement  of  this  country,  and 
under  full  and  thoroughly  intelligent  cultivation  by  the  Indians, 
who  were  also  native  sons  of  the  New  World.  Its  abundance, 
adaptability,  and  nourishing  qualities  not  only  saved  the 
colonists'  lives,  but  altered  many  of  their  methods  of  living, 
especially  their  manner  of  cooking  and  their  tastes  in  food. 

A  field  of  corn  on  the  coast  of  Massachusetts  or  Narragansett 
or  by  the  rivers  of  Virginia,  growing  long  before  any  white 
man  had  ever  been  seen  on  these  shores,  was  precisely  like  the 
same  field  planted  three  hundred  years  later  by  our  American 
farmers.  There  was  the  same  planting  in  hills,  the  same  num- 
ber of  stalks  in  the  hill,  with  pumpkin  vines  running  among  the 
hills,  and  beans  climbing  the  stalks.  The  hills  of  the  Indians 
were  a  trifle  nearer  together  than  those  of  our  own  day  are 
usually  set,  for  the  native  soil  was  more  fertile. 

The  Indian  method  of  preparing  maize  or  corn  was  to  steep 
or  parboil  it  in  hot  water  for  twelve  hours,  then  to  pound  the 
grain  in  a  mortar  or  a  hollowed  stone  in  the  field,  till  it  was  a 
coarse  meal.  It  was  then  sifted  in  a  rather  closely  woven 
basket,  and  the  large  grains  which  did  not  pass  through  the 
sieve  were  again  pounded  and  sifted. — Hotne  Life  in  Colonial 
Days. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  KING'S  MOUNTAIN 
All    the   southern  lands  lay  at  the  feet  of  the   conquerors. 
The   British  leaders,  overbearing  and  arrogant,  held  almost  un- 
checked sway  throughout  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia ;  and  look- 


34         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

ing  northward  they  made  ready  for  the  conquest  of  Virginia. 
Their  right  flank  was  covered  by  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  their 
left  by  the  high  mountain  barrier-chains,  beyond  which  stretched 
the  interminable  forest ;  and  they  had  as  little  thought  of  danger 
from  one  side  as  from  the  other. 

Suddenly  and  without  warning,  the  wilderness  sent  forth  a 
swarm  of  stalwart  and  hardy  riflemen,  of  whose  very  existence 
the  British  had  hitherto  been  ignorant.  Riders  spurring  in 
hot  haste  brought  word  to  the  king's  commanders  that  the  back- 
water men  had  come  over  the  mountains.  The  Indian  fighters 
of  the  frontier,  leaving  unguarded  their  homes  on  the  western 
waters,  had  crossed  by  wooded  and  precipitous  defiles  and  were 
pouring  down  to  the  help  of  their  brethren  of  the  plains.  .  .  . 
The  mountain-men  had  done  a  most  notable  deed.  They  had 
shown  in  perfection  the  best  qualities  of  horse-riflemen.  Their 
hardihood  and  perseverance  had  enabled  them  to  bear  up  well 
under  fatigue,  exposure,  and  scanty  food.  Their  long,  swift  ride, 
and  the  suddenness  of  the  attack,  took  their  foes  completely  by 
surprise.  Then,  leaving  their  horses,  they  had  shown  in  the 
actual  battle  such  courage,  marksmanship  and  skill  in  woodland 
fighting,  that  they  had  not  only  defeated  but  captured  an  equal 
number  of  well-armed,  well-led,  resolute  men,  in  a  strong  posi- 
tion. The  victory  was  of  far-reaching  importance,  and  ranks 
among  the  decisive  battles  of  the  Revolution.  It  was  the  first 
great  success  of  the  Americans  in  the  South,  the  turning-point 
in  the  southern  campaign,  and  it  brought  cheer  to  the  patriots 
throughout  the  Union.  The  loyalists  of  the  Carolinas  were 
utterly  cast  down,  and  never  recovered  from  the  blow ;  and  its 
immediate  effect  was  to  cause  Cornwallis  to  retreat  from  North 
Carolina,  abandoning  his  first  invasion  of  that  state. — "  The 
Winning  of  the  JVesf,"  see  Part  III,  Chap.  V. 


One  hundred  and  fifty  years  were  needed  to 
push  the  frontier  from  the  Atlantic  coast  west- 
ward to  the  mountains,  but  while  the  settlers 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TEAIL      35 

were  taming  this  country,  hunters  and  trappers 
were  pushing  on  up  the  river  courses  and  over 
trails  far  to  the  north  and  south  and  west.  Many 
of  these  daring  men  gave  up  their  Hves  to  the 
wilderness  but  some  returned  with  their  pelfries 
to  the  markets  of  the  coast,  having  marvellous 
stories  to  tell  of  rich  lands  and  plentiful  game  on 
the  other  side  of  the  mountains. 

Once  across  the  first  ranges,  passage  down  the 
long  river  valleys  of  the  Appalachians  was  com- 
paratively easy,  and  by  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  hardy  men  and  women  from  the 
colonies  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  Mary- 
land and  even  Virginia,  were  forming  settlements 
near  the  trading  posts  of  the  trappers  on  the 
banks  of  the  Kanawha,  the  Yadkin  and  the 
French  Broad. 

To  a  little  settlement  on  the  Yadkin,  came 
journeying  about  this  time  a  family  from  Penn- 
sylvania. Father  and  sons  were  masters  of  wood- 
craft, and  famous  hunters,  who  made  long  and 
ever  longer  trips  into  the  wilderness.  One  of  the 
sons  we  know  as  that  most  intrepid  and  skillful 
explorer  and  guide,  Daniel  Boone.  So  far  did 
he  and  other  frontiersmen  of  this  region  wander 
and  so  prolonged  were  their  absences  from  home 
that  they  were  known  as  the  Long  Hunters. 
When  they  did  at  length  return  they  told  tales 
of  a  wonderful  land  of  beauty  and  fertility  "  so 
good  as  to  be  like  Paradise  "  lying  far  westward 


36         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATERS 

beyond  the  mountains  and  the  long  stretching 
forests,  which  had  been  previously  supposed  to 
reach  even  to  the  coast  of  the  Pacific  Ocean; 
the  way  thither  was  indeed  difficult  and  beset 
with  perils  from  man  and  beast,  by  day  and  by 
night,  but  the  goal  was  worth  all  the  hardships 
and  risks  of  reaching  it.  These  stories  of  the 
blue  grass  land  spread  Hke  wild-fire  among  the 
frontiersmen  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina. 

While  the  Long  Hunters  had  been  making 
their  slow  progress  across  the  mountains  and 
through  dark  forests,  an  easier  way  to  the  beau- 
tiful western  country  was  discovered  in  the 
*♦  River  of  the  White  Caps,"  known  to  the  French 
as  La  Belle  Riviere.  The  Indians  called  it  O-hi-o. 
Now  begins  to  open  before  us  our  second  fron- 
tier, for  by  pack-train  over  the  "  Wilderness 
Road "  and  down-stream  by  raft  and  flat-boat 
and  clumsy  square-end  scow  and  dug-out,  be- 
gan a  great  immigration  to  the  fair  country  of 
*•  The  Kaintuckee,"  the  Cumberland  and  the 
Tennessee. 

Boone  himself,  with  a  band  of  helpers,  cut  out 
the  celebrated  Wilderness  Road,  after  all  only  a 
bridle-path,  through  dim  and  silent  forests,  which 
stretched  out  endlessly  in  a  gray  twilight,  for 
seldom  could  a  ray  of  sunlight  flicker  through 
the  thick  roof  of  leaves. 

Through  this  silent  forest  passed  the  silent 
pack-trains,  scarcely  breaking   the   stillness,  for 


THE  BEGINKING  OF  THE  TEAIL      37 

never  could  these  early  travellers  know  how  close 
to  them  might  be  their  Indian  foes.  A  long 
journey  and  a  gloomy  one,  lonely  and  gray  and 
still,  and  better  so,  for  any  sound  of  humankind 
must  mean  death  or  worse  than  death.  As  night 
came  on  there  were  sounds,  stealthy  sounds,  of 
panther  perhaps.  There  were  hooting  of  owls, 
and  howHng  of  wolves.  There  was  sometimes 
the  blood-freezing  yell  of  an  Indian  attack. — 
Oh,  happy  were  the  mothers  and  children  when 
at  last  they  reached  the  open  glades  and  spark- 
ling waters,  the  gorgeous  flowers  and  the  sunny 
meadows  and  the  singing  birds  of  the  beautiful 
land  of  the  blue  grass. 

The  river  way  was  easier.  Much  easier,  one 
would  think,  simply  to  float  with  the  current 
down-stream.  Yet  there  were  unsuspected  rapids 
and  unseen  rocks  and  unknown  channels ;  and 
Indian  arrows  whizzing  forth  from  forests  skirt- 
ing the  river;  not  only  arrows,  for  firearms  were 
the  pride  of  many  Indians  now.  Any  moment 
might  and  often  did  see  a  fleet  of  Indian  canoes 
stealing  out  from  the  banks. 

In  looking  back  we  can  see  that  the  key  to 
the  second  frontier  is  this  Indian  warfare;  for 
Tennessee  and  Kentucky  with  their  abounding 
game,  were  the  long  time  and  favourite  hunting 
grounds  of  powerful  tribes  in  the  South  and  in 
the  North.  This  rich  country  between  was  "  No 
Man's   Land,"  and  the  sons  of  the  forest  were 


38         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

resolved  it  should  remain  so.  The  carrying  out 
of  their  resolve  makes  a  tragic  story  of  the 
settlement  of  Kentucky. 

This  story  in  its  outline  is  quickly  told ;  first, 
the  erection  of  a  stockaded  fort  which  in  times 
of  danger  was  a  refuge  for  all  the  settlers  of  the 
community;  then  the  building  of  log  cabins, 
clearing  the  land  and  planting  corn.  In  occa- 
sional brief  lulls,  more  planting  was  done,  and 
horses  and  cattle  flourished  undisturbed  on  the 
rich  range,  or  natural  pasture.  The  "  clearings  " 
became  farms  and  in  their  houses  the  mothers 
drew  long  breaths  of  rehef. 

It  was  then  all  the  more  heartrending  and  ter- 
rible, when  in  the  dead  of  night  or  in  broad 
daylight  while  the  men  of  the  settlement  were  at 
work  in  the  fields,  the  Indians  made  their  sudden 
and  ferocious  attacks. 

The  children  were  killed  before  the  mothers' 
eyes,  while  often  they  themselves  were  carried 
away  captive,  their  houses  burned,  the  cattle 
driven  off  or  killed,  the  orchards  and  growing 
crops  destroyed.  All  this  and  tortures  too  hor- 
rible to  tell  or  think  of,  occurred  with  sickening 
frequency  in  the  "  dark  and  bloody  ground  "  of 
Kentucky. 

Think  of  the  magnificent  courage  and  endur- 
ance of  those  who  remained  in  the  country 
facing  these  dangers  and  horrors,  and  of  the 
newcomers  who  after  the  Revolution  streamed 


r        - 

/a 

THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  FORT 
The  oiliest  place   of  worship   of    the   Reformed   Church,   in 
America — in   the  fort  on    Manhattan   Island,  near  "Bowling 
Green/'  New   York  Citi).     Its  first  minister,  James  Michael- 
mus,   was  installed  in   1628. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TEAIL     39 

into  the  country,  down  the  rivers  and  over  the 
Wilderness  Road. 

As  a  nation  v^^e  owe  a  great  debt  to  the  second 
frontier  in  the  victory  of  the  backwoodsmen  at 
King's  Mountain.     (See  page  33.) 

There  was  much  missionary  work  on  the  sec- 
ond frontier — chiefly  by  means  of  the  saddle  bag. 
We  recall  the  fact  that  only  the  northern  col- 
onies had  colleges  for  the  training  of  ministers  of 
the  gospel,  and  therefore  we  may  be  sure  that  in 
the  case  of  these  sturdy  pioneers  of  religion  and 
education,  long  journeys,  abounding  in  perils  and 
hardships,  were  necessary  in  order  to  reach  Ten- 
nessee or  "  The  Kaintuckee." 

Fancy  the  long  tramp — for  the  missionary 
usually  walked,  while  his  horse  carried  the  bur- 
den of  books.  The  starting  point  was  Princeton 
college  perhaps,  or  Yale,  or  even  Harvard ;  then 
through  New  England,  New  York  and  New  Jer- 
sey ;  across  Maryland,  through  Virginia,  down  the 
Valley  of  the  Shenandoah  ;  southward  still,  on  and 
on  to  Fort  Chissel,  where  began  the  Wilderness 
Road  (then  called  "  Boone's  Trace ")  leading 
through  the  Cumberland  Gap  and  the  gloomy 
Cumberland  mountains  ;  then  westward  through 
the  misty  gray  forest  until  at  last  man  and  horse 
reached  the  settlements  of  Kentucky. 

Other  missionaries  followed  blazed  trails  over 
the  mountains  to  the  Holston  Settlements.  Such 
a  pioneer  was  Samuel  Doak,  a  Presbyterian  min- 


40         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

ister,  who  helped  to  build  "  Salem,"  the  first 
church  in  Tennessee,  in  the  little  town  of  Jones- 
boro.  Near  this  church  Doak  built  a  log  high 
school,  which  later  became  Washington  College, 
the  first  institution  for  higher  education  west  of 
the  Alleghanies. 

The  first  ministers  to  many  of  these  settlements 
were  Presbyterians,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
wherever  a  church  was  built,  a  schoolhouse 
quickly  followed.  Baptist  missionaries  were  not 
far  behind  the  Presbyterians,  and  after  the  Revo- 
lution many  Methodist  preachers  came  to  the 
second  frontier. 

The  minister  shared  all  the  hardships  of  the 
settlers ;  he  cleared  the  forests,  hunted  elk  and 
buffalo,  always  carried  arms,  and  at  church  services, 
while  his  congregation  leaned  their  rifles  in  their 
pews,  his  stood  in  the  pulpit  within  reach  of  his 
hand,  and  often  in  an  Indian  attack  did  vaHant 
work  in  routing  the  enemy. 

We  owe  more  than  can  be  computed  to  these 
strong  and  steadfast  promoters  of  righteousness 
and  education  in  the  second  frontier,  which  was 
really  the  beginning  of  our  America,  for  the  At- 
lantic frontier  had  ever  looked  longingly  eastward 
over  the  sea ;  but  the  men  and  women  who  crossed 
the  mountains,  or  drifted  down-stream  to  the  sec- 
ond frontier,  set  their  faces  westward,  once  for  all. 
For  the  most  of  them  there  was  no  going  back,  and 
henceforth  they  would  look  towards  the  sunset. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TEAIL      41 

Following  them,  the  star  of  the  census  map, 
moves  also — westward  ! 

We  may  see  in  this  first  westward  movement 
something  of  the  bearing  of  the  frontier  in  the 
development  of  our  country.  It  is  plain  that  only 
the  strongest  and  most  courageous  men  and 
women  could  hope  to  survive  its  hard  conditions  ; 
and  also  that  these  very  conditions  increased  their 
strength  and  fortitude,  and  brought  out  and  de- 
veloped other  fine  qualities.  Sudden  and  terrible 
emergencies  necessitated  quick  thought  and  in- 
stant action  ;  and  while  individuality  was  strength- 
ened, at  the  same  time  qualities  of  leadership  were 
brought  out. 

Self-reliance  became  a  distinguishing  charac- 
teristic of  the  frontiersman.  It  could  not  be  oth- 
erwise when  all  props  had  been  left  on  the  east- 
ern side  of  the  mountains,  hundreds  of  miles 
away;  naturally  their  resourcefulness  increased 
with  the  demand  upon  it.  On  the  second  frontier, 
too,  there  were  a  sturdy  independence  and  a 
neighbourly  interdependence. 

This  was  the  environment  of  the  children  of 
the  frontier.  They  grew  to  manhood  and  to 
womanhood,  sturdy,  fearless,  reckless  of  danger, 
regardless  in  a  measure  of  human  life,  vigorous 
of  body,  steady  of  nerve,  keen  in  mind,  ambitious 
to  rise,  quick  to  seize  opportunity,  resolute  of 
purpose,  indomitable  in  will,  careless  of  hard- 
ships, and  with  limitless  power  of  endurance  and 


42         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

pride  in  achievement.  The  material  was  omni- 
present, the  ideal  but  vaguely  felt.  In  short  in 
them  was  born  the  Spirit  of  the  West,  which  is 
our  inheritance  from  the  second  frontier. 

THE  DEVELOPMENT 

At  first,  the  frontier  was  the  Atlantic  coast.  It  was  the  fron- 
tier of  Europe  in  a  very  real  sense.  Moving  westward,  the 
frontier  became  more  and  more  American.  As  successive  ter- 
minal moraines  result  from  successive  glaciations,  so  each  fron- 
tier leaves  its  traces  behind  it,  and  when  it  becomes  a  settled 
area  the  region  still  partakes  of  the  frontier  characteristics. 
Thus  the  advance  of  the  frontier  has  meant  a  steady  movement 
away  from  the  influence  of  Europe,  a  steady  growth  of  inde- 
pendence on  American  lines.  And  to  study  this  advance,  the 
men  who  grew  up  under  these  conditions,  and  the  political, 
economic,  and  social  results  of  it,  is  to  study  the  really  Ameri- 
can part  of  our  history. —  Turner, 

TURNING  WESTWARD 
In  time  this  early  outbound  man  learned  that  there  were 
rivers  which  ran  not  to  the  southeast  and  into  the  sea,  but  out- 
ward, across  the  mountains  towards  the  setting  sun.  The  wind- 
ing trails  of  the  Alleghanies  led  one  finally  to  rivers  which  ran 
towards  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  even  farther  out  into  that  un- 
known, tempting  land  which  still  was  called  the  West.  Thus 
it  came  that  the  American  genius  broke  entirely  away  from 
salt-water  traditions,  asked  no  longer  "  What  cheer  ?  "  from  the 
ships  that  came  from  across  the  seas,  clung  no  longer  to  the 
customs,  the  costumes,  the  precedents  or  standards  of  the  past. 
There  came  the  day  of  buckskin  and  woolsey,  of  rifle  and  axe, 
of  men  curious  for  adventures,  of  homes  built  of  logs  and  slabs, 
with  puncheons  for  floors,  with  little  fields  about  them,  and  tiny 
paths  that  led  out  into  the  immeasurable  preserves  of  the  prime- 
val forests.     A  few  things  held  intrinsic  value  at  that  time — 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TEAIL      43 

powder,  lead,  salt,  maize,  cowbells,  women  who  dared.  It  was 
a  simple  but  not  an  ill  ancestry,  this  that  turned  away  from  the 
seacoast  forever  and  began  the  making  of  another  world.  It 
was  the  strong-limbed,  the  bold-hearted  who  travelled,  the  weak 
who  stayed  at  home. — Hough. 


QUESTIONS 

1.  Who,  exclusive  of  the  Indians,  were  the  "  owners "  of 

America  in  the  early  days  of  the  first  frontier  ? 

2.  Upon   what  did  each  of  these  nations  base  its  claims  to 

ownership  ? 

3.  What  motives  brought  men  to  the  new  world  ? 

4.  What  is  the  distinction  between  Pilgrim  and  Puritan  and 

what  was  the  object  of  each  in  coming  to  America  ? 

5.  What   factor   besides   the    spirit   of  persecution,  led  the 

Puritans  to  withhold  religious  liberty  from  those  who 
differed  from  them  in  their  opinions  ? 

6.  What  national  blessings  do  we  owe   to  New  England  ? 

to  Virginia?  to  the  Dutch  ? 

7.  What  sources  of  wealth  were  open  to  New  England,  the 

middle  and  the  southern  colonies,  respectively  ? 

8.  What  were  the  principal  industries  ? 

9.  What  educational  progress  was  made  in  the  first  frontier  ? 
10.     Name  some  church  buildings  of  the  first  frontier. 


QUESTIONS 

1.  How  do  you  account  for  the  great  change  in  the  attitude 

of  the  Indians  towards  the  colonists  ? 

2.  What  was  the  "  frontier  line  "  at  this  time? 

3.  Can   you    trace    a   waterway   from    Pennsylvania  to  the 

Yadkin  River  ?     From  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  Ohio 
River  ? 


44         THE  CALL  OP  THE  WATEES 

4.  What  methods  of  travel  were  at  this  time  possible  to  the 

pioneer? 

5.  Describe  the  stages  of  development  from  "  the  European  " 

to  "  the  American  "  ? 

6.  Where  was  held  the  first  "  American  "  Convention  of  law- 

makers ? 

7.  How  did  this  differ  from  the  Virginia  representative  Con- 

vention ? 

8.  What  was   the    environment  of  children  on  the  second 

frontier  ? 

9.  Name  some  of  these  children  when  they  had  attained  to 

manhood  and  womanhood  ? 
10.     What  advance  did  education  make  in  the  second  frontier  ? 

TOPICS  FOR  RESEARCH  WORK 

«* Spices  ";  Their  Part  in  the  New  World  Story. 

"River  Trails  and  Portages." 

"  Spanish  Discoveries  in  America," 

"  French  Exploration  and  Claims," 

"  The  Lost  Colony  of  Roanoke." 

FACTS  AND  DATES 
{Sef  Charming :  Short  History  of  the  United  States) 

Ponce  de  Leon  discovers  Florida 1513 

Balboa  discovers  Pacific 15^3 

The  French  on  the  Atlantic  Coast J524 

De  Soto  and  Coronado 1539-1542 

St.  Augustine  (First  Permanent  Settlement) 1565 

Drake  in  the  Pacific 1577 

Acadia  (The  French  in  the  North) 1604 

Virginia  (First  Permanent  English  Colony) 1607 

Beginning  of  Dutch  Colonies 1609 

The  Pilgrims  (First  Permanent  Colony  in  the  North)  ,    ,  1620 

Great  Emigration  of  Puritans 1630 

Roger  Williams  (Separation  of  Church  and  State)    .    .    ,  1636 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TEAIL     45 

New  England  Confederation 1643 

Toleration   Act 1649 

Carolina  .  1663-1665 

English  Conquest  of  New  Netherland 1664 

Georgia 1732 

Expulsion  of  the  French        1763 

First  Continental  Congress '774 

Declaration  of  Independence 1776 


POINTERS 

(These  should  be  brought  out  in  the  missionary  meeting  by 
lively  description.  Lend  variety  by  telling ;  the  reading  of 
paragraphs ;  or  sentence  by  sentence ;  in  each  case  members 
should  follow  one  another  in  quick  succession.  In  the  study 
class  the  "  Pointers  "  may  be  used  as  assignments,  or  as  topics 
for  special  research  work.) 

The  Attractions  of  the  New  World. 

Early  Attempts  at  Colonization. 

Historic  Ships. 

Our  Debt  to  the  Indian. 

Improvement  in  Conditions. 

Early  Churches  and  the  "  S.  P.  G."  (Use  also  extracts  in 
small  type.    See  page  30.) 

Some  Effects  of  Persecution. 

The  Oldest  College  in  America. 

The  Dutch  Occupation. 

Our  Debt  to  the  Southern  Frontier.  ( Include  the  Battle  of 
King's  Mountain.) 

The  Atlantic  Coast,  and  the  First  Move  Westward. 


POINTERS 

Our  Debt  to  the  Trappers  and  Fur  Traders. 
The  Long  Hunters  and  Their  Tales  of  Wonder. 
Over  the  Wilderness  Road. 
«  Down-Stream." 


46         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

The  Indian  as  a  Foe. 
"  Saddle-Bags  "  and  the  Minister. 

The  Influence  of  the  Frontier.     (Make  use  of  extracts  in 
small  type  and  illustrate  by  concrete  cases.) 

SOME  GREAT  MEN  OF  THE  FRONTIER 

/.     Explorers  : 

Balboa,   Coronado,  De  Soto,   Cartier,  Champlain,  Mar- 
quette, Joliet,  La  Salle,  Boone. 

2.  Home- Makers  : 

Bradford,  Winthrop,  Boone,  Robertson,  Sevier,  Clarke. 

3.  Ministers : 

Hunt,  Roger  Williams,  Doak,  Hooker,  Wesley,  White- 
field,  Edwards. 
What  significance  have  the  following  dates? 
1492,   1497,   1585,   1607,   1609,   1620,   1630,   1649,  1776,  1777, 
1780,   1783. 

FACTS  AND  DATES 

First  Continental  Congress 1774 

Lexington  and  Concord 1775 

Boone  and  Settlement  of  Kentucky 1775 

Declaration  of  Independence 1776 

King's  Mountain 1780 

Treaty  of  Peace 1783 

BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE 

Prince  ; — "  A  Bird's  Eye  View  of  America." 
Jenks: — "When  America  Was  New." 
Earle : — "  Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days." 
Anderson  : — "  History  of  the  Colonial  Church." 
Fiske  : — "  The  Beginnings  of  New  England." 


The  Frontier  Moving  Westward 


II 

FOLLOWING  THE  WAR-PATH 


THE  BIBLE  LESSON 


INTO  THE  UNKNOWN 

0  send  out  Thy  light  and  Thy  truth ;  let  them  lead  me. 

Be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage,  fear  not,  nor  be  afraid  of 
them ;  for  the  Lord  thy  God,  He  it  is  that  doth  go  with  thee ; 
He  will  not  fail  thee,  nor  forsake  thee  ! 

Thine  ears  shall  hear  a  word  behind  thee,  saying,  This  is  the 
way,  walk  ye  in  it,  when  ye  turn  to  the  right  hand,  and  when 
ye  turn  to  the  left. 

The  Lord,  your  God,  went  in  the  way  before  you  to  search 
you  out  a  place  to  pitch  your  tents,  in  fire  by  night,  to  show  you 
by  what  way  ye  should  go,  and  in  a  cloud  by  day.  He  led 
them  on  safely. 

In  all  thy  ways  acknowledge  Him,  and  He  shall  direct  thy 
paths. 

1  will  instruct  thee  and  teach  thee  in  the  way  which  thou 
shalt  go.     I  will  guide  thee  with  Mine  eye. 

Behold,  I  am  with  thee  and  will  keep  thee  in  all  places 
whither  thou  goest. 

My  presence  shall  go  with  thee,  and  I  will  give  thee  rest. 
Lo,  I  am  with  you  always  even  unto  the  end  of  the  age. 


II 

FOLLOWING  THE  WAR-PATH 

NEVER  did  the  waters  call  more  allur- 
ingly, and  never  so  insistently  as  in 
our  third  frontier. 

Had  we  time  we  should  listen  and  follow,  as  did 
De  Soto,  the  Spaniard,  and  Cartier,  La  Salle,  the 
beloved  Father  Marquette,  and  the  brave  Joliet. 
Let  us  instead  take  a  rapid  glance  at  the  map, 
down  the  Alleghany  River,  the  Monongahela  and 
the  Ohio  ;  along  the  borders  of  the  Great  Lakes, 
and  westward  where  many  streams  fall  into  the 
Mississippi,  making  mental  note  as  we  pass,  of  all 
French  names.  Down  these  streams  paddled  the 
old  voyageur  and  these  towns  and  cities  were 
once  the  forts  and  trading  posts  which  gave  to  us 
the  third  frontier,  otherwise  known  as  the  Old 
Northwest. 

It  is  necessary  just  here  to  call  to  mind  certain 
happenings — the  French  and  English  War ;  Brad- 
dock's  disastrous  defeat,  and  the  proffered  and 
refused  advice  of  a  certain  young  surveyor  from 
Virginia ;  which  counsel,  if  taken,  might  have 
turned  that  defeat  into  victory. 

We  must  notice,  too,  changes  in  the  political 
ownership  of  the  western  country  resulting  from 
49 


50         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

the  French  and  Indian  War,  and  from  the  war  of 
the  Revolution ;  for  all  these  events  are  as  links 
in  a  chain  which  brought  under  British  dominion 
the  Old  Northwest. 

Let  us  also  return  for  a  moment  to  the  second 
frontier,  which  is  still  suffering  untellable  tortures 
from  the  Indians  of  the  North.  To  enter  into 
these  prevailing  conditions,  one's  imagination 
needs  only  an  old  map  of  the  country  reaching 
from  the  Ohio  River  to  the  Great  Lakes,  and 
from  the  Alleghanies  to  the  Mississippi  River  and 
the  Lake  of  the  Woods — a  vast  expanse  of  forest 
and  prairie,  absolutely  unbroken  save  for  the 
far  and  lonely  forts  and  trading  posts.  On  the 
map  are  the  names  of  powerful  Indian  tribes  and 
there  are  trails  running  down  from  their  homes  in 
the  North  to  the  Ohio  River  and  to  the  one-time 
hunting  grounds  south  of  it. 

These  trails  had  at  this  time  become  war-paths  ; 
and  constantly  passing  over  them  were  bands  of 
Indians,  supplied  with  arms  by  British  officers  at 
Detroit,  and  urged  on  by  them  to  fearful  ravages 
upon  the  settlements  south  of  the  Ohio. 

The  disheartened  settlers  of  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  were  beginning  to  understand  the  share 
of  the  British  in  the  ceaseless  coming  of  those 
stealthy  and  murderous  bands  of  savages,  over 
the  long  forest  trails,  and  across  the  Ohio  River. 

There  was  but  one  way  to  put  an  end  to  their 
coming,  namely :  to  capture  the  northwest  country 


FOLLOWIi^G  THE  WAE-PATH        51 

from  the  British  and  to  conquer  or  win  over  the 
hostile  tribes  of  Indians. 

It  was  at  this  time  of  discouragement  and 
ahnost  of  despair  that  George  Rogers  Clark,  a 
young  frontiersman  from  Virginia,  thought  out  a 
plan  by  which  to  conquer  the  country  of  the 
northwest.  With  the  sanction  of  Patrick  Henry, 
the  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  gathering  a  small 
following  of  frontiersmen  of  Tennessee  and  Ken- 
tucky, he  himself  took  the  war-path. 

We  may  not  stop  to  describe  his  heroic  passage 
through  the  flood-covered  country  of  the  Illinois 
and  the  Wabash,  and  the  surprise  and  capture 
of  British  forts,  among  them  Old  Vincennes. 
For  the  young  frontiersman  was  successful  and 
the  British  did  finally  surrender  the  country  to 
the  young  Government  at  Washington,  and  "  Mad 
Anthony"  eventually  brought  the  Indians  to 
terms.  Congress,  after  various  adjustments  of 
conflicting  rights  and  claims,  passed  the  great 
Ordinance  of  1787 — "the  Magna  Charta  of  the 
Old  Northwest " — and  behold  !  the  third  frontier  ; 
and  a  half  chapter,  or  for  that  matter,  a  whole 
one — is  small  space  in  which  to  tell  of  the  migration 
thitherward  and  what  followed  ;  for  the  "  western 
fever"  in  aggravated  form  immediately  set  in, 
with  wonderful  consequences  for  our  country. 
The  reasons  for  this  rush  to  the  West  were  many. 

The  frontier  has  been  defined  as  the  "  hither 
edge  of  free  land,"  and  in  all  save  one  of  the 


52         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

great  westward  movements  free  land  was  the 
magnet  which  irresistibly  attracted  immigration. 
This  third  frontier  offered  free  land — boundless, 
rich  and  fertile. 

Previous  to  this  time  the  pioneer  to  the  wild 
country  must,  humanly  speaking,  trust  his  life 
and  the  life  of  his  family  to  his  own  rifle  and  his 
good  right  arm,  but  now  and  from  this  time  on 
the  Government  promised  its  aid  in  subduing  the 
Indians. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  men  who  won 
for  us  our  liberty  and  made  us  a  nation,  did  not 
receive  great  pecuniary  reward  for  doing  it.  But 
Congress  paid  up  arrears  by  the  bestowal  of  tracts  of 
land  in  the  Old  Northwest  upon  soldiers  who  had 
fought  in  the  Continental  Army,  great  numbers 
of  whom  now  took  up  their  claims. 

Finally  there  was  the  famous  "  Ordinance  of 
1787."  One  of  its  articles  which  brought  in 
thousands  of  settlers  of  the  right  sort,  is  brief  and 
easily  remembered. 

^* Religion y  morality,  and  knowledge  being  neces- 
sary to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of 
mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall 
forever  be  encouraged.'' 

A  land  ordinance  providing  for  the  survey  and 
sale  of  the  milUons  of  acres  in  this  new  domain 
directed  that  in  every  congressional  township  of 
thirty-six  sections  of  land  one  section  should  be 
reserved  for  the  maintenance  of  common  schools, 


FOLLOWING  THE  WAE-PATH        53 

and  from  that  time  until  now  one  thirty-sixth  of 
the  public  lands  has  always  been  set  apart  for 
schools ;  each  state  has  also  one  entire  township 
for  the  building  and  support  of  a  university. 

The  result  of  this  ordinance  has  been  a  fund  of 
nearly  twenty  million  dollars  for  free  education  in 
the  Old  Northwest. 

Do  we  not  now  hear  the  "  call  of  the  waters  "  ? 
Through  all  its  varied  music  of  falling  cataract 
or  grandly  sweeping  river,  or  of  soft  and  sleepy 
tinkling  of  little  brooks,  still  there  runs  the  one 
theme — Opportu  nity . 

If  we  could  but  see  and  hear  the  excitement 
of  those  days  and  the  eager,  earnest  talking  and 
planning !  Especially  in  New  England,  where 
many  a  tired  farmer,  weary  of  the  never-ending 
struggle  of  his  fields,  said  to  his  son,  "  Go  West, 
young  man,  where  your  plowshare  may  turn  up 
something  besides  rocks  and  stones,  and  where 
ceaseless  mortgages  shall  not  hold  you  back 
from  an  education " ;  and  mothers  everywhere 
gave  up  all  dear  and  familiar  things  for  the  sake 
of  "  the  children's  "  brighter  chance  in  life. 

In  fancy  we  may  see  them,  these  thousands  of 
home-seekers, pouring  forth, in  Conestoga  wagons, 
and  other  queerer  and  more  uncomfortable  ve- 
hicles ;  on  horseback,  or  even  on  foot  hastening 
to  catch  the  first  note  of  the  silvery  "  call " ;  in 
other  words  to  embark  on  the  nearest  westward- 
flowing  river  in  any  kind  of  a  vessel,  raft  or  flat- 


54         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

boat,  square-end  scow,  or  "  Noah's  Ark,"  or  dug- 
out— in  or  on  anything  which  might  reasonably 
be  trusted  to  carry  them  to  the  haven  where 
they  would  be. 

New  Yorkers — whose  own  fair,  western  hills 
and  valleys  were  yet  untilled — felt  a  greater 
enchantment  in  the  distant  view,  and  found  a 
way  to  it  by  the  waters  of  the  Mohawk.  Land- 
less thousands  in  the  South  saw  homes  and  com- 
fort in  the  Old  Northwest,  and  thither  they 
journeyed  up  the  Potomac  and  across  to  the 
Ohio ;  or  by  way  of  the  Tennessee,  the  Cumber- 
land, the  Kentucky,  the  Kanawha  and  Youghio- 
gheny — verily  our  "  inland  waterways  "  were  the 
making  of  the  third  frontier. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  comprehend  in  these 
times  of  easy  and  rapid  locomotion,  the  diffi- 
culties and  hardships  and  perils  and  long  drawn 
out  discomforts  of  travel,  as  they  existed  in  the 
days  of  the  third  frontier. 

Yet,  as  we  have  seen,  many  thousands  under- 
took the  long  journey.  Could  we  scan  the 
streams  of  men,  women  and  children  pressing  on 
in  spite  of  every  obstacle  to  this  new  land  of 
glorious  opportunity,  we  should  perhaps  see 
among  them  some  who  were  not  going  to  the 
new  country  for  that  country's  good,  but  rather 
to  the  advantage  of  the  land  left  behind ;  some 
Micawbers  and  a  few  "  rolling  stones  " : — but 
mostly  they  were  brave  and  hardy  souls,  wiUing  to 


FOLLOWING  THE  WAE-PATH        56 

endure  anything  for  the  sake  of  the  good  to  come ; 
and  also,  very  many  of  them,  for  the  sake  of  the 
good  they  might  do,  for  it  was  in  the  time  of 
this  great  rush  of  people  to  the  West,  and  be- 
cause of  it,  that  the  churches  of  the  East  began 
to  send  through  the  recently  organized  mission- 
ary societies,  men  and  money  to  build  churches 
and  to  establish  schools  and  colleges  in  the 
"  Old "  Northwest.  We  shall  see  that  Chris- 
tianity and  Christian  education  were  grandly 
placed  in  the  foundations  of  the  third  frontier. 

The  leader  of  the  first  colony  to  what  is  now 
the  State  of  Ohio  was  a  minister  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church.  His  destination  was  the  mouth 
of  the  Muskingum  River.  It  was  first  necessary 
for  the  party  to  meet  in  Connecticut,  and  the 
converging  thither  over  the  poor  roads  of  New 
England  was  in  itself  no  easy  task ;  but  after  that 
they  must  cross  the  Hudson  River  to  Kingston; 
from  Kingston  they  travelled  by  the  military 
road,  and  by  the  Youghioghcny  River  to  the 
Monongahela  and  the  Ohio,  to  the  tract  of  land 
which  had  been  purchased  by  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany ten  days  after  the  passing  of  the  great 
Ordinance.  This  tract  lay  on  the  north  bank  of 
the  Ohio,  mainly  between  the  Muskingum  and 
the  Scioto. 

The  big  clumsy  barge  in  which  the  pioneers 
floated  down  the  Ohio  was  named  the  Mayflower 
— in  memory  of  a  certain  old  vessel  dear  to  the 


56         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

heart  of  the  New  Englander ;  at  their  journey's 
end  they  disembarked,  cut  down  trees,  built  log 
cabins,  and  a  fort — which  they  named  "  Campus 
Martins  " — cleared  land  and  planted  corn.  This 
was  in  April,  1788. 

A  definition  of  the  frontier  is  "  the  line  where 
savagery  and  civilization  meet."  We  may  then 
see  the  third  frontier  epitomized  in  the  bill  of 
fare  enjoyed  at  the  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of 
July  in  this  new  little  settlement  which  should 
later  become  the  city  of  Marietta.  Savagery 
provided  "  venison  barbecued,"  buffalo  steaks, 
bear  meat  and  wild  fowl.  Civilization  was  able 
to  furnish  "  a  little "  pork  (the  amount  of  this 
commodity  has  since  increased  in  the  State  of 
Ohio). 

In  the  late  summer  the  eastern  half  of  Ohio 
was  organized  into  a  county  called  Washington 
County.  Judges  and  other  officers  were  ap- 
pointed and  a  county  court  was  opened  in  one 
of  the  blockhouses  of  the  fort. 

This  day  was  a  great  day  in  the  annals  of 
the  Old  Northwest  for  it  marked  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  order  of  things, — the  American 
order.^ 

This   is  the  third   frontier  as   it  began  on  its 

eastern  edge — it  extended  rapidly  westward — far 

beyond  the  limits   of  this  study,  for  the  third 

stage  of  advance  developed  the  five  noble  states 

»  "  The  Conquest  of  the  Old  Northwest,"  p.  191. 


FOLLOWING  THE  WAR-PATH        57 

of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wis- 
consin.^ Contrast  for  a  moment  the  wild  wilder- 
ness— which  came  to  us  through  the  clear  brain, 
the  indomitable  courage,  and  almost  incredible 
endurance  of  George  Rogers  Clark, — and  the 
magnificent  resources  and  cultivation  of  our 
present  Old  Northwest. 

We  cannot  linger  to  watch  this  development, 
splendid  as  it  is,  but  we  have  a  tribute  to  pay  to 
those  who  planted  its  germs  in  the  third  frontier, 
and  chiefly  to  those  whom  we  call  "  home  mis- 
sionaries." It  is  simply  impossible  to  estimate 
the  results  of  the  work  of  these  heroic  men,  and 
quite  out  of  the  question  to  sum  up  the  labours 
of  their  even  more  heroic  wives.  Such 
journeys !  Aye !  and  also  such  lonely  and 
courageous  stayings  at  home  !  If  we  are  really 
desirous  to  pay  a  tribute,  let  us  pay  it  to  the 
home  missionary  wives,  past,  present  and  future, 
only  let  us  hope  that  the  future  will  see  to  it 
that  their  deprivations  and  hardships  shall  soon 
be  no  more !  It  may  even  be  that  the  future 
will  see  self-support  in  all  our  churches,  in  which 
case  the  home  missionary  himself — and  herself — 
having  become  pastors  and  pastoresses  shall  also 
be  no  more.  May  it  be  so,  for  then  shall  there 
be  released  for  other  Christian  work  great  stores 

*  The  "  Ordinance  of  1787  "  suggested  as  names  for  these 
states  :  "  Sylvania,"  "  Cheronesus,"  "  Assenisipia,"  "  Metropa- 
tamia,"  *«  Pelesipia." 


58         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

of    energy   and   consecration   and   money,   and 
noble  lives. 

But  these  even  now  hypothetical  conditions 
certainly  did  not  exist  in  the  third  frontier. 
Christian  faith  and  therefore  courage  and  energy 
and  endurance  and  fortitude  were  built  into 
many  and  many  a  log  church  and  into  many  a 
character  in  the  old  frontier  days.  Where  are 
the  log  churches  now?  Transformed  into 
Gothic  beauty,  or  "  Institutional "  solidity  they 
are  in  every  city  of  the  Old  Northwest. 

The  circuit  rider  also  was  ever  active  and  de- 
voted in  the  third  frontier.  He  is  a  famiUar 
figure,  especially  in  the  "  Hoosier "  state. 
Thousands  of  miles  he  and  his  horse  travelled  as 
they  came  and  went  on  their  circuits,  and  many 
settlements  looked  out  for  his  coming,  and  many 
a  lonely  family  on  far-away  clearings  blessed  the 
day  when  he  appeared. 

In  nothing  was  Christian  patriotism  more 
nobly  shown  on  the  third  frontier  than  in  the 
founding  of  schools  and  colleges,  funds  for  which 
were  in  many  cases  sent  from  the  East,  through 
the  newly- formed  missionary  societies.  Many 
agencies  shared  in  laying  these  foundations — one 
of  them — the  IlHnois  band, — in  which  were  as- 
sociated twelve  young  men  from  Yale  College — 
is  noteworthy  not  only  on  account  of  its  own 
fine  work  but  because  it  was  the  pioneer  of  other 
similar  groups    which  later  accomplished  great 


FOLLOWING  THE  WAE-PATH        69 

things  in  other  territories  and  states.  Their 
names  explain  themselves,  and  yet  give  no  hint 
of  the  courage  and  self-sacrifice  and  the  far-seeing 
statesmanship  developed  in  the  groups  of  young 
college  men  who  devoted  all  the  strength  of 
their  lives  to  the  implanting  of  a  Christian  edu- 
cation in  the  third  frontier. 

These  schools  and  colleges  were  not  pre- 
tentious ;  the  buildings  were  plain — exceedingly 
so ;  the  furnishing  was  far  from  luxurious  and 
the  equipment  was  meagre  in  the  extreme.  But 
the  spirit  in  these  colleges  was  earnest  and  the 
teaching  fine;  and  stirring  indeed  because  of 
their  subsequent  influence  in  the  nation  would 
now  be  the  roll-call  of  their  students.  It  would 
also  be  an  inspiring  thing  simply  to  name  these 
institutions  and  their  early  faculties ;  we  should 
find  among  the  founders  and  instructors  names 
of  high  honour  in  all  our  churches ;  for  many 
denominations  contributed  to  the  Christian 
foundations  of  the  third  frontier. 

The  Spanish  explorers  of  America  had  a  large 
part  in  determining  the  western  extension  of  our 
country.  Yet  was  the  river  call  still  dominant  in 
the  fourth  frontier  for  De  Soto  had  heard  it — 
the  first  of  white  men — in  the  grand  sweep  of 
the  Mississippi.  Its  music  was  for  him  the  fatal 
syren  song ;  nevertheless  the  majestic  river  flow- 
ing onward  to  the  sea  henceforth  "  belonged  "  to 


60         THE  'CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

Spain  by  right  of  his  discovery,  and  long  after 
there  ensued  a  compHcated  chapter  in  the  history 
of  Spain,  France  and  the  United  States  whose  out- 
come was  the  purchase  in  1803  by  our  Govern- 
ment of  the  magnificent  trans-Mississippi  country 
known  as  the  Louisiana  Territory.  A  contempor- 
ary apprehension  of  the  transaction  is  interesting : 

««  Louisiana  must  and  will  be  settled  if  we  hold  it,  and  with 
the  very  population  that  would  otherwise  occupy  part  of  our 
present  territory.  Thus  our  citizens  will  be  removed  to  the 
immense  distance  of  two  or  three  thousand  miles  from  the 
capital  of  the  Union,  where  they  will  scarcely  ever  feel  the 
rays  of  the  general  government;  their  affections  will  become 
alienated  ;  they  will  gradually  begin  to  view  us  as  strangers ; 
they  will  form  other  commercial  connections,  and  our  interests 
will  become  distinct. 

"  These,  with  other  causes  that  human  wisdom  may  not  now 
foresee,  will  in  time  effect  a  separation,  and  I  fear  our  bounds 
will  be  fixed  nearer  to  our  houses  than  the  waters  of  the 
Mississippi.  We  have  already  territory  enough,  and  when  I 
contemplate  the  evils  that  may  arise  to  these  states  from  this 
intended  incorporation  of  Louisiana  into  the  Union,  I  would 
rather  see  it  given  to  France,  to  Spain,  or  to  any  other  nation 
of  the  earth,  upon  the  mere  condition  that  no  citizen  of  the 
United  States  should  ever  settle  within  its  limits,  than  to  see 
the  territory  sold  for  a  hundred  millions  of  dollars  and  we  re- 
tain the  sovereignty.  And  I  do  say  that,  under  existing  cir- 
cumstances, even  supposing  that  this  extent  of  territory  was  a 
valuable  acquisition,  fifteen  million  dollars  was  a  most 
enormous  sum  to  give." 

Who  can  now  compute  the  milHons — biUions 
— of  dollars  which  have  reimbursed  the  nation 
for  that  "  enormous  "  expenditure  ? 


FOLLOWIKG  THE  WAR-PATH        61 

The  Louisiana  purchasers  were,  however,  not 
so  much  concerned  in  the  acquisition  of  territory 
as  in  the  right  of  way  down  the  Mississippi 
river ;  for  down-stream  trade  had  become  an 
absolute  necessity  if  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
were  to  prosper. 

The  purchase  was  indeed  largely  brought 
about  by  the  men  of  the  South  so  that,  as  in  the 
attainment  of  the  Old  Northwest,  we  owe  much 
to  the  second  frontier  for  this  next  stage  of  ad- 
vance. And  presently — after  sawmills  had 
been  built  on  the  rivers — there  was  evolved  an 
up-stream  boat, — a  queer  and  clumsy  craft 
known  as  a  keel  boat ;  and  the  up-stream  men 
were  almost  a  class  by  themselves  in  inventive- 
ness, hardihood,  endurance  and  persistence. 

Advancement  along  the  Missouri,  the  Platte, 
the  Arkansas — along  all  the  streams  whose 
sources  are  in  the  blue  far-off  mountains  of 
the  West,  required  the  up-stream  boat.  Up 
these  streams  pressed  now  the  pioneers  of  the 
Long  Trail — the  hunter,  the  trapper  and  the 
trader. 

And  after  them,  closely  following  the  river 
courses,  plodded  the  patient,  long  enduring 
prairie  schooners  of  the  plains. 

We  have  but  to  shut  our  eyes  and  think  a  mo- 
ment of  the  far-stretching  monotony  of  the  Great 
Plains  to  feel  the  sympathetic  strain  of  those 
long,  slow-dragging  miles — not  so  bad  for  the 


62         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATERS 

men  perhaps,  but  wearisome  beyond  words  for  the 
mothers  and  the  children. 

And  not  always  monotonous — for  many  times 
the  level  line  of  gray  horizon  was  broken  by 
long  bands  of  the  horse  Indians  of  the  plains. 
The  most  tiresome  monotony  had  been  better 
far  than  this.  But  the  long  drawn  out  journey 
ends  at  last ;  and  in  the  frontier  for  the  first  time 
since  the  Mayflower  touched  on  Plymouth  Rock, 
we  miss  the  "  anvil  chorus  "  of  the  ringing  axes 
in  the  forest — for  here  there  is  no  forest. 

Sod  cutting  is  less  inspiring  work  than  tree- 
felling;  but  since  sods  are  the  only  available 
building  material  the  settlers  must  needs  live  in 
sod  houses  until  more  comfortable  dwellings  shall 
become  a  possibility.  It  is  a  rich  and  fertile 
country,  but  in  winter  are  blizzards  and  bitter 
cold  and  in  summer  there  are  hot  blasting  winds 
and  thirsty  fields  and  men  and  beasts,  for  at  this 
time  only  the  witch-hazel  wand  could  hear  the 
call  of  the  life-giving  underground  waters. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  drawbacks,  there  were, 
before  many  years  had  passed,  flourishing  farms 
in  the  country  lying  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
thousands  of  immigrants, — heeding  pleasant  re- 
ports and  ignoring  rumours  that  were  unpleasant, 
— crossed  over  the  river  to  the  promised  land. 
The  census  map  for  1820  gives  us  the  frontier 
line  of  this  stage  of  our  study.  It  is  quite 
regular  and  clearly  defined  except   for  certain 


FIRST    BAPTIST    CHUK(  II,    I'UOVIDENCE,    R.    I. 
Foinided  by  Roger  Williaws,  A.  D.   1038.      This  house  dedicated 


Ma  If,  11 


The  third  house  occupied  hi/  the  church. 


FOLLOWING  THE  WAB  PATH        63 

odd  little  westward  reaching  tongues  and 
splashes  of  colour.  Were  we  looking  at  the 
real  country  the  buff  and  brown  tongues  of  the 
census  map  would  be  painted  in  living  green,  for 
the  ever  attracting  rivers  had  drawn  the  settlers 
farther  and  farther  on  into  the  unknown  country. 
These  little  buff  spots  are  now  populous  centres 
possessing  large  and  influential  churches,  and 
our  present  interest  in  them  lies  in  the  fact  that 
their  foundations  were  laid  by  devoted  home 
missionaries  in  the  old  days  when  they  were  the 
vanguard  of  the  fourth  frontier. 

Many  men  celebrated  now  as  statesmen  or 
writers  or  judges  perhaps,  grew  up  on  the 
frontier.  It  is  often  said  of  them  that  their 
only  means  of  education  were  a  spelling-book 
and  a  Bible. 

Considering  all  things,  is  it  not  a  matter  for 
wonderment  that  the  log  cabin  or  the  sod  house 
should  contain  a  copy  of  the  Bible?  For  all 
books  were  expensive  and  not  over  plentiful  and 
for  several  reasons  the  Bible  was  especially  costly 
and  rare. 

Let  us  try  to  answer  the  question  we  have 
raised,  and  first  of  all  by  calling  up  to  our  minds 
a  picture  of  a  sunny  hayfield  near  Williams 
college  in  Massachusetts ;  in  the  afternoon  the 
warm  summer  day  becomes  sultry,  and  suddenly 
black  clouds  fill  the  blue  sky,  lightning  flashes 
and  thunder  crashes  and  torrents  of  rain  pour 


64         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

down.  To  escape  the  violence  of  the  storm  a 
group  of  young  college  students  seek  the  shelter 
of  a  haystack. 

All  the  world  is  better  now  for  that  thunder- 
storm and  the  haystack  prayer-meeting  which 
resulted  from  it ;  but  not  many  persons  perhaps 
associate  with  it  the  supplying  of  Bibles  to  the 
frontier — and  that  not  only  in  a  general  way, 
but  through  the  labours  of  Samuel  J.  Mills,  one 
of  the  "  Haystack  Men." 


GIVING  THE  BIBLE  TO  THE  FRONTIER 

In  January,  1813,  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson  sailed  from  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  with  1,500  volunteers  for  Natchez,  Miss.,  in  order 
to  prepare  the  defens)e  of  the  lower  Mississippi  Valley  against 
possible  attack  from  the  British.  Before  leaving  he  had  met 
Mr.  Samuel  J.  Mills,  a  theological  student,  who  had  been  or- 
ganizing a  Bible  society  for  the  state  of  Tennessee.  Finding 
that  Mr.  Mills,  with  his  companion,  Mr.  Schemmerhorn,  was 
going  to  New  Orleans  for  similar  work  there.  General  Jackson 
invited  him  to  travel  with  him  on  his  steamer.  So  it  came  to 
pass  that  Mr.  Mills,  the  Home  Missionary,  made  the  journey  to 
Natchez  as  the  guest  of  the  bluff  and  restless  genera... 

When  he  returned  to  the  North  Mr.  Mills  published  an  ac- 
count of  his  observations.  His  report  was  designed  to  arouse 
Christians  to  action,  and  it  did. 

The  spirit  of  missions  was  abroad  in  those  days,  and  all 
men  knew  that  Bible  distribution  was  essential  in  missionary 
enterprises.  Discussion  as  to  what  ought  to  be  done  to  save 
the  settlers  in  the  new  states  and  territories  at  length  took  form 
in  the  organization  of  the  American  Bible  Society  in  New  York, 
May  8,  1 816.  It  was  a  momentous  event  in  the  history  of 
the  United  States.     None  of  the  great  home  missionary  societies 


FOLLOWING  THE  WAE-PATH        65 

had  as  yet  been  effectively  organized.  The  delegates  of  the 
local  Bible  societies,  representing  different  denominations  act- 
ing together,  sent  the  new  society  forth  as  in  itself  an  expres- 
sion of  the  highest  principles  of  Christianity ;  for  it  was  a  mis- 
sionary society  in  the  most  literal  sense. 

In  1829  the  Washington  County  Bible  Society  (New  York) 
formally  proposed  united  effort  to  supply  every  destitute  family 
in  the  United  States  with  the  Bible,  The  thought  was  a  noble 
one,  and  it  was  promptly  taken  up  by  the  National  Society  and 
urged  upon  all  the  auxiliaries.  In  the  three  years,  1828-29  to 
1830-31  the  issues  of  the  American  Bible  Society  were 
680,000  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  of  which  at  least  500,000 
copies  were  distributed  in  the  United  States;  very  largely 
through  the  gratuitous  services  of  the  devoted  Christians  who 
canvassed  the  counties  and  supplied  all  destitute  families  who 
could  read.  A  similar  general  supply  was  undertaken  in  1856, 
when  more  than  a  million  copies  were  distributed.  A  third 
general  supply  took  place  in  1866  and  the  following  years  when 
1,200,000  families  were  visited  and  101,000  families,  together 
with  about  60,000  individuals  who  had  no  Bible,  were  supplied. 
In  this  distribution  954  societies  auxiliary  to  or  cooperating 
with  the  American  Bible  Society  took  part.  A  fourth  general 
supply  was  undertaken  in  1882. 


«  THE  WAR-PATH  " 

The  frontier  army  post,  serving  to  protect  the  settlers  from 
the  Indians,  has  also  acted  as  a  wedge  to  open  the  Indian  coun- 
try, and  has  been  a  nucleus  for  settlement.  In  this  connection 
mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  Government  military  and  ex- 
ploring expeditions  in  determining  the  lines  of  settlement.  But 
all  the  more  important  expeditions  were  greatly  indebted  to  the 
earliest  pathmakers,  the  Indian  guides,  the  traders  and  trappers, 
and  the  French  voyageurs,  who  were  inevitable  parts  of  gov- 
ernmental expeditions  from  the  days  of  Lewis  and  Clark. 
Each  expedition  was  an  epitome  of  the  previous  factors  in 
western  advance. — Turner, 


m         THE  CALL  OF  THE  AYATEES 

"THE  WEST  "IN  1835 
«*  It  is  plain  that  the  religious  and  political  destiny  of  our 
nation  is  to  be  decided  in  the  West.  Its  population  is  assem- 
bled from  all  the  states  of  the  Union  and  from  all  the  nations 
of  Europe,  and  is  rushing  in  like  the  waters  of  the  flood,  de- 
manding for  its  moral  preservation  the  immediate  and  universal 
action  of  those  institutions  which  discipline  the  mind  and  arm 
the  conscience  and  the  heart.  And  so  various  are  the  opinions 
and  habits,  and  so  recent  and  imperfect  is  the  acquaintance, 
and  so  sparse  are  the  settlements  of  the  West,  that  no  homo- 
geneous public  sentiment  can  be  formed  to  legislate  immedi- 
ately into  being  the  requisite  institutions.  And  yet  they  are  all 
needed  immediately  in  their  utmost  perfection  and  power,  A 
nation  is  being  '  born  in  a  day.'  But  what  will  become  of  the 
West  if  her  prosperity  rushes  up  to  such  a  majesty  of  power, 
while  those  great  institutions  linger  which  are  necessary  to  form 
the  mind  and  the  conscience  and  the  heart  of  that  vast  world. 
It  must  not  be  permitted.  Let  no  man  at  the  East  quiet  him- 
self and  dream  of  liberty,  whatever  may  become  of  the  West. 
Her  destiny  is  our  Destiny." — Lyman  Beecher. 

QUESTIONS 

1.  What  great  waterways  did  the  pioneers  use  in  their  ad- 

vancement westward  ? 

2.  How  was  the  old  Northwest  conquered  ? 

3.  What  was  the  "  Ordinance  of  1787"?     What  were  its 

principal  features  ? 

4.  What  were  some  of  the  reasons  for  the  great  and  rapid 

advance  of  the  old  Northwest  ? 

5.  To  what  do  these  states  owe  their  great  educational  fa- 

cilities ? 

6.  Mention  ten  great  institutions  of  learning  in  these  states  ? 

7.  What  led  to  the  advancement  of  the  frontier  to  the  west 

side  of  the  Mississippi  ? 

8.  Why  was    there    urgent    need    for   a  market  "down- 

stream "  ? 


FOLLOWING  THE  WAR-PATH        67 

9,     What  was  its  effect  on  the  nation  ? 

10.     What  rivers  have  had  the  largest  share  in  the  develop- 
ment of  America  ? 

POINTERS 

A  Map  Talk. 

War- Paths.     (Use  fine  type  also.) 

1.  Indian  Ravages. 

2.  Carrying  the  War  into  the  Northwest. 
Old  Vincennes  and  the  Illinois. 

The  "  Magna  Charta"  of  the  Old  Northwest. 

The  New  Call  of  the  Waters. 

The  Ohio  as  a  Course  of  Empire. 

The  Great  Migration. 

The  Missionary  Societies. 

The  First  Colony  to  Ohio. 

Christian  Education  in  the  Third  Frontier. 

The  Circuit  Rider. 

The  "  Market  "  at  New  Orleans — some  of  Its  Effects. 

The  "  Up-Stream  Men." 

The  Long  Trail. 

The  Bible  in  the  Frontier.     (Use  fine  type  also.) 

MEN  OF  THE  FRONTIER 
Lewis  and  Clark,  Whitney,  "  Mad  "  Anthony  Wayne,  Fulton, 
Howe,  De  Witt  Clinton,  Cartwright,  Whitman. 

SIGNIFICANT  DATES 
1789,  1803,  1805,  1807,  1809,  1825,  1827. 

FACTS  AND  DATES 

The  Constitution  and  the  Northwest  Ordinance 1787 

Invention  of  Cotton  Gin 1794 

Louisiana  Purchase 1803 

War  with  England 1812-1815 


68         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

Missouri  Compromise 1820 

The  Monroe  Doctrine 1823 

The  Erie  Canal 1825 

The  Locomotive 1830 

BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE 

Baldwin :— «  The  Conquest  of  the  Old  Northwest." 
Clark: — "The  Leavening  of  the  Nation." 
Turner  : — "  The  Rise  of  the  Northwest." 
Hulbert : — <'  The  Ohio  River  ;  a  Course  of  Empire." 
Prince  :— «  A  Bird's  Eye  View." 

TOPICS  FOR  FURTHER  RESEARCH 

Old  Vincennes. 
The  Illinois  Band. 
The  Circuit  Rider. 
The  "  Up-Stream  "  Men. 
The  Long  Trail. 


The  Frontier  Moving  Westward 


III 

THE  LAST  STAND  OF  THE  FRONTIER 


THE  BIBLE  LESSON 


FOR  THE  INCREASE  OF  KNOWLEDGE 

And  I  will  make  all  My  mountains  a  way,  and  My  high- 
ways shall  be  exalted. 

Cast  up,  cast  up  the  highway ;  gather  out  the  stones. 

Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  straight  in  the  desert 
a  highway  for  our  God. 

Every  valley  shall  be  exalted,  and  every  mountain  and  hill 
shall  be  made  low.  And  the  crooked  shall  be  made  straight 
and  the  rough  places  a  plain. 

And  a  highway  shall  be  there  and  a  way  and  it  shall  be 
called  the  way  of  holiness. 

And  many  shall  run  to  and  fro  and  knowledge  shall  be  in- 
creased. 


Ill 

THE  LAST  STAND  OF  THE  FRONTIER 

AS  a  graphic  exponent  of  the  frontier, 
nothing  exceeds  the  census  map.^  Es- 
pecially is  there  a  fascinating  richness 
and  variety  in  the  fine  colour  scheme  in  the  map 
of  1880,  which  shows  us  the  last  stand  of  the 
frontier.  No  longer — so  the  map  maker  tells  us 
— can  there  be  a  "  frontier  line,"  for  the  reason 
that  there  are  so  many  isolated  spots  and  out- 
reaching  tongues  of  settlement. 

It  is  our  study,  in  this  chapter,  to  discover  the 
reasons  for  these  departures  from  the  regular  line 
of  advancement. 

Queer  stories  used  sometimes  to  travel  east- 
ward from  the  far  regions  of  the  sunset — that 
mysterious,  ever-receding,  ever-alluring  "  West " 
— such  stories  for  instance,  as  that  of  the  great 
salt  mountain,  a  hundred  miles  long,  from  whose 
base  issued  ever-flowing  streams  of  salt  water. 

There  were  many  equally  remarkable  tales, 
and  where  all  listeners  were  ignorant  who  should 
decide  on  their  truth  ? 

In  this  state  of  things  the  Government  at  Wash- 

^See  "Statistical  Atlas  of  the  United  States,  1900."     To  be 
found  in  most  public  libraries. 

71 


72         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEKS 

ington  had  the  happy  thought  of  sending  ex- 
plorers through  these  lands  of  mystery  to  find  out 
what  part  of  the  stories  might  be  true,  and  great 
discoveries  were  thereby  made ;  among  them  the 
fact  that  in  many  instances  the  actual  truth  far 
exceeded  the  most  fabulous  stories.  So  came 
about  far  in  the  utmost  West,  slight  shadings  of 
buff  on  the  white  ground  of  the  census  map. 
These  shadings  signify  that  every  square  mile 
covered  by  them  rejoices  in  a  population  of  from 
one  to  six  white  men,  traders  or  settlers,  lured  on 
by  the  calling  waters  of  that  "  rolling  Oregon," 
which  heretofore  had  heard  no  sound  save  his 
own  dashings  !  But  now  there  happened  once 
more  the  panorama  of  the  frontier :  first  the 
trampling  of  thousands  of  hoofs  heralding  a  great 
procession  of  thirsty  animals  who  sniff  from  afar 
life-giving  waters,  and  make  all  speed  towards 
them ;  next  passes  the  Indian  along  this  "  game 
trail " ;  following  him  are  explorer  and  hunter, 
the  trapper  and  trader;  the  missionary;  and 
finally  the  settler.  The  salt  mountain  tale  did 
not,  however,  attract  many  settlers ;  rather  did 
it,  with  other  causes,  tend  to  discourage  agricul- 
tural advance. 

We  may  briefly  state  the  mental  altitude  of  the 
time,  by  a  quotation  from  a  Government  pubH- 
cation. 

•'  Major  Long's  expedition  up  the  Platte  brought  back  the 
*  important   fact '  that  the   *  whole  division  of  North  America 


LAST  STAND  OF  THE  FEONTIER      73 

drained  by  the  Missouri  and  the  Platte  and  their  tributaries,  be- 
tween the  Meridian  of  the  mouth  of  the  Platte  and  the  Rockies 
is  almost  entirely  unfit  for  cultivation,  and  therefore  uninhabita- 
ble for  an  agricultural  people.'  " 

(This  whole  division,  etc.,  now  contains  Neb- 
raska, the  Dakotas,  Montana,  Wyoming  and 
Colorado !) 

It  would  seem  then  that  the  Indian  and  the 
buffalo  might  long  remain  monarchs  of  the  plains, 
but  agriculture  is  not  the  only  magnet  for  at- 
tracting population,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  the  Indian 
and  the  buffalo  soon  lost  their  supremacy  on  the 
Long  Trails. 

On  the  census  map  of  1880  and  of  previous 
decades  as  well,  there  is  in  the  country  of  which 
the  Great  Salt  Lake  is  the  centre,  a  long  splash 
of  buff  with  interior  markings  of  brown.  This 
splash  denotes  the  final  resting-place  in  what  was 
then  Mexican  territory  of  the  long-migratory 
Latter  Day  Saints. 

Other  splashes  in  the  southwest  would  carry 
us  back  to  the  fascinating  days  of  Coronado  and 
his  seven  cities  of  gold.  This  being  outside  our 
limits,  we  may  follow  only  an  inglorious  fur  trap- 
per who,  making  his  stealthy  way  through  the 
forests  in  pursuit  of  the  ever  more  wary  animals, 
happens  one  day  upon  a  rich  old  Spanish  city, 
whose  name  shorn  of  its  Spanish  magniloquence 
we  know  as  Santa  Fe.  Trade  with  this  city  is 
the  origin  of  that  wonderful  traffic  by  pack-train 


74         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATERS 

and  ox  team  over  the  old  Santa  Fe  trail,  which 
ultimately  produced  much  of  the  colouring  on 
the  map  of  1880. 

The  deep  colouring  spreading  over  California 
came  about  through  the  trifling  incident  that  on 
a  certain  morning  a  man  going  out  to  his  work — 
a  white  jnan  in  California  f  Aye,  truly !  but 
how  he  came  there  would  take  long  to  tell.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say  that  on  that  fateful  morning  this  man 
found  among  grains  of  sand  particles  of  yellow 
gold. 

Immediately,  one  scarcely  can  tell  how,  tidings 
of  this  finding  flew  out  and  spread  like  wild-fire — 
through  this  land  and  to  other  lands ;  and  as  it 
always  does,  the  gold  dust  brought  on  a  fever  of 
excitement,  and  more  quickly  than  one  would  be- 
lieve possible,  there  was  a  wild  and  furious  scram- 
ble of  eager  gold  seekers  to  the  New  Eldorado. 
They  came  by  every  possible  and  impossible  way 
— across  the  plains,  over  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 
around  Cape  Horn — no  difficulties  were  too  great ; 
no  reports  of  hardships  to  be  borne,  of  hunger  or 
thirst  or  heat  or  cold  deterred  them.  Even  the 
dread  of  Indian  atrocities  could  not  hold  them 
back.  Gold,  gold — the  fever  for  it  fed  by  larger 
and  yet  larger  stories  of  findings  in  the  mountains 
ran  like  wild-fire  in  their  veins. 

Thousands  and  thousands  of  men  poured  into 
the  mountains ;  scarcely  was  there  a  nook  or 
cranny  without  its  anxious  prospector,  and  many 


LAST  STAND  OF  THE  FROKTIER      75 

a  surprised  fur  trapper  shared  his  loneliness  and 
his  venison  with  an  unexpected  and  quite  proba- 
bly half-starved  visitor. 

This  fact — that  many  of  the  miners  were  in 
danger  of  starvation — is  the  clue  to  the  next  hap- 
penings on  the  westward  trails  ;  for  gold  with  all 
its  magical  power  cannot  buy  bread  where  there 
is  none  to  be  had,  and  the  miners  were  not  able 
to  supply  themselves  with  game  as  did  the  trap- 
pers of  the  mountains. 

But  they  were  willing  to  pay  fabulous  sums  to 
those  who  could  supply  their  need.  Hence  the 
growth  of  the  great  pack-trains  of  the  western 
trails  ;  of  the  "  pony  express  "  and  the  "  Over- 
land "  stage  route. 

The  pack-train  consisting  of  perhaps  a  hundred 
mules  or  burros — the  experienced  leader  picking 
the  way  for  those  in  the  rear — was  an  interesting 
sight,  and  its  arrival  in  the  mining  camps  pro- 
duced intense  excitement. 

The  perils  of  the  way  for  pack  and  wagon  trains 
were  so  great  that  the  successful  completion  of 
the  journey  has  been  described  as  simply  an 
escape  from  death. 

It  is  interesting  to  turn  back  the  leaves  of  time 
to  the  year  1827  and  open  the  book  at  a  page 
where  sit  in  conclave  in  the  city  of  Baltimore 
twenty-five  of  its  leading  citizens.  They  are  lis- 
tening to  an  impassioned  speaker — by  name 
Philip  Evans  Thomas,  whom  we  know  as  the 


76  THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

father  of  American  railroads — who,  as  his  hearers 
said,  seemed  touched  with  the  spirit  of  prophecy 
as  he  spoke  of  an  enterprise  which  was  to  cast 
aside  mountains,  to  unite  streams  and  to  discover 
what  there  might  be  in  that  always  mysterious 
land  "  the  West " — in  his  mind  the  country  lying 
near  the  Mississippi  River — any  progress  beyond 
that  point  being  at  that  time  almost  unthinkable. 
It  is  permissible  here  for  us  to  speak  of  that  great 
achievement — the  first  railroad  of  our  country,  a 
Hne  from  Baltimore  to  Washington,  built  almost 
immediately  after  Mr.  Thomas'  speech.  This 
short  line  was  the  beginning  of  that  great  high- 
way, which  should  ultimately  join  the  far  Pacific 
with  the  Atlantic. 

Never  was  frontier  so  much  in  need  as  in  the  days 
of  the  gold  fever  and  of  the  '*  Prairie  schooner," 
which  about  this  time  began  its  slow-creeping 
progress  over  the  plains ;  for  increasing  knowl- 
edge of  the  country  had  shown  it  to  be  not  "  unin- 
habitable "  for  farming  communities,  and  many 
families  were  now  on  their  way  to  the  free  lands 
of  the  far,  far  West. 

These  families  did  indeed  miss  the  Christian 
surroundings  of  their  old  homes,  but  their  need 
was  as  nothing  compared  with  the  extremities  of 
destitution  of  all  moral  restraint  in  the  mining 
camps. 

This  was  especially  the  case  in  California,  so 
much  so  that  even  the  miners  themselves  sent  to 


LAST  STAND  OF  THE  FRONTIEE      77 

the  East  an  urgent  request  that  ministers  of  the 
gospel  might  be  sent  to  them,  to  act  as  chap- 
lains. 

These  men  looked  towards  the  East,  never 
dreaming  that  from  far  away  over  the  glittering 
water  of  the  Pacific  should  come  their  helper. 
But  so  it  was ;  and  here  indeed  is  opportunity 
to  call  up  facts  of  history. 

The  temptation  is  great,  but  Hawaii  is  not  and 
never  was  our  frontier,  so  we  merely  say  that  in 
the  time  of  dire  need  California  received  the 
gospel  by  way  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  it 
was  an  Hawaiian  missionary  who  welcomed  to 
California  the  first  ministers  from  the  East. 
Before  the  end  of  1849  five  churches  had  been 
organized  in  San  Francisco.  These  were  Episco- 
pal, Congregational,  Presbyterian,  Baptist  and 
Methodist. 

Such  were  the  first  efforts  of  Christian  patriot- 
ism at  the  end  of  the  trail.  But  who  shall  tell 
the  story  of  Christian  foundations  laid  in  the  great 
expanse  of  country  containing  and  lying  west  of 
the  last  "  frontier  line  "  ? 

It  is  a  story  of  heroism  beyond  compare ;  but 
of  a  quiet  sort,  wherein  the  actors  never  dream 
of  what  heroic  stuff  they  are  made. 

But  the  churches  tell  the  story;  could  walls 
speak  every  one  would  utter  thrilling  tales  of 
devotion  and  self-sacrifice. 

Schools  and  colleges  are  eloquent  of  missionary 


78         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

effort ;  and  some  of  the  first  hospitals  of  the  West 
owe  their  existence  and  their  usefulness  to  mis- 
sionary societies  of  the  East. 

Transformed  Indian  tribes  are  also  tributes  to 
missionary  devotion,  and  thousands  of  dark-eyed 
Httle  Mexicans  have  grown  up  to  be  good  citizens 
of  the  United  States  because  of  the  instruction  of 
mission  teachers. 

Years  ago  little  mission  schools  nestled  among 
the  mountains  or  stood  in  the  scorching  heat  of 
the  plains;  to-day  these  having  attained  the 
stature  of  a  man  are  in  some  instances  colleges  ; 
in  others,  churches  in  the  midst  of  Christian  com- 
munities, made  up  of  the  one-time  children  of 
the  schools. 

All  these  foundations  were  laid  when  the  mis- 
sionary must  travel  on  foot,  or  on  horseback,  or 
must  drive  many  miles  over  an  almost  roadless 
country ;  he  must  ford  or  swim  rivers,  and  never 
heed  cold  of  blizzard,  or  heat  of  desert. 

Travel  is  easier  now,  and  the  beginning  of  the 
change  we  may  trace  to  a  spring  day  of  the  year 
1869,  when  more  than  the  dream  of  the  "  father 
of  railroads  "  was  realized  in  the  driving  home  of 
that  golden  spike  which  showed  the  joining  of  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  by  the  completion  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad. 

As  we  watch  the  driving  of  this  nail  our  old 
frontier  fades  away  like  a  dissolving  view;  but 
behind  it,  blurring  the  picture  a  little,  are  the 


LAST  STAND  OF  THE  FEONTIER      79 

first  faint  outlines  of  that  coming  time  which  we 
shall  know  as  our  Twentieth  Century  "  Frontier." 

EVOLUTION 
The  buffalo  trail  became  the  Indian  trail,  and  this  became 
the  trader's  "  trace  " ;  the  trails  widened  into  roads,  and  the 
roads  into  turnpikes,  and  these  in  turn  were  transformed  into 
railroads.  The  same  origin  can  be  shown  for  the  railroads  of 
the  South,  the  far  West,  and  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  The 
trading  posts  reached  by  these  trails  were  on  the  sites  of  Indian 
villages  which  had  been  placed  in  positions  suggested  by  na- 
ture ;  and  these  trading  posts,  situated  so  as  to  command  the 
water  systems  of  the  country,  have  grown  into  such  cities  as 
Albany,  Pittsburg,  Detroit,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Council  Bluffs, 
and  Kansas  City.  Thus  civilization  in  America  has  followed 
the  arteries  made  by  geology,  pouring  an  ever  richer  tide 
through  them,  until  at  last  the  slender  paths  of  aboriginal  inter- 
course have  been  broadened  and  interwoven  into  the  complex 
mazes  of  modern  commercial  lines ;  the  wilderness  has  been 
interpenetrated  by  lines  of  civilization  growing  ever  more  nu- 
merous. It  is  like  the  steady  growth  of  a  complex  nervous 
system  for  the  originally  simple,  inert  continent.  If  one  would 
understand  why  we  are  to-day  one  nation,  rather  than  a  collec- 
tion of  isolated  states,  he  must  study  this  economic  and  social 
consolidation  of  the  country.  In  this  progress  from  savage 
conditions  lie  topics  for  the  evolutionist. —  Turner. 

DRIVING  THE  GOLDEN  SPIKE 
The  time  came  when  some  minds  and  brains  of  the  go-ahead 
kind  thought  out  a  plan  to  "  cast  aside  mountains  and  to  unite 
streams  "  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  Pacific. 

The  railroad  builder  has  a  task  before  him.  He  must  climb 
mountains  for  seven  thousand  feet  or  more ;  he  must  cross  a 
great  expanse  thirteen  hundred  miles  wide,  which  until  a  very 
few  years  ago  was  marked  on  the  map  "  unexplored  desert." 
It  was  not  very  well  known  even  at  this  time,  and  in  one  long, 


80         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

long  stretch  of  nearly  seven  hundred  miles,  there  was  only  one 
white  man  to  be  found. 

But — of  course — all  along  the  route  from  Omaha  westward 
there  were  the  fiercest  Indians.  They  saw  a  curious  thing  one 
day ;  motionless  on  their  horses  they  watched — to  see  what  the 
strange  objects  might  be. 

Flags  they  know  and  chains  they  know — but  what  are  those 
queer  three-legged  creatures  which  some  fearless  young  men 
are  placing  here  and  there  over  the  prairie  ? 

They  do  not  know  either  that  following  behind  these  young 
engineers  are  an  army  of  workers  who  will  lay  a  path  for  the 
iron  feet  of  a  «« horse  "  swifter  than  the  mustang,  stronger  than 
the  buffalo ! 

******* 

As  the  Union  Pacific  men  pressed  westward,  the  Central 
Pacific  men  pushed  eastward.  They  crossed  the  Sierras  and 
laid  the  rails  in  the  Utah  desert.  The  subsidies  promised  by 
Congress  were  far  larger  for  mountainous  than  for  level  country, 
and  as  the  two  armies  of  workmen  drew  near  together  each 
tried  hard  to  gain  the  prize — the  Central  men  on  their  slope, 
and  the  Union  men  on  the  western  side  of  the  Rockies. 

"  Where  metals  meet  metals  " — Congress  had  said  should  be 
the  joining  point,  and  in  April,  1869,  they  met,  at  Promontory 
Point,  near  Ogden,  Utah.  A  few  days  afterwards,  on  the 
loth  of  May,  the  rival  armies  of  workers  were  drawn  up  on 
either  side  of  the  tracks.  There  was  also  a  group  of  officers 
and  invited  guests  who  had  come  over  the  road  to  be  present  at 
its  joining.  The  spike  of  gold  to  show  the  completion  of  trans- 
portation between  East  and  West  was  driven  home  by  a  min- 
ister of  the  gospel,  who  then  offered  prayer.  A  moment  later 
the  news  was  flashed  by  the  telegraph  east  and  west,  and  in 
Chicago,  Buffalo  and  New  York  public  thanksgivings  were  pro- 
claimed.—  Condensed  from  ^^  Pioneers.^'' 

(The  best  aid  in  the  study  of  Chapter  III  is  found  in  the 
Government  Census  Maps.  If  these  are  not  attainable,  the 
small  reproductions  as  given  in  McMaster's  "  Primary  History 


LAST  STAND  OF  THE  FEONTIER      81 

of  the  United  States  "  (American   Book  Company),  will  be 
helpful.) 

POINTERS 

(Suggested  Program  divisions,  or  Study  Class  Assignments.) 

1.  Western  Myths  and  Heroes. 

2.  "  First  Across  the  Continent." 

3.  The  Mormon  Migration. 

4.  The  "  Discovery  "  of  Santa  Fe. 

5.  Gold  Finding  and  Its  Consequences. 

6.  Pack  Trains,  the  "  Pony  Express,"  and  the  "  Overland 

Stage." 

7.  Christianity  Eastward  Bound. 

8.  Home  Missions  beyond  the  Frontier  Line. 

9.  The  Opening  of  the  New  Northwest. 

10.  Railroad  Building  on  Plain,  Desert  and  Mountain. 

11.  Conquering  the  Indian. 

12.  Christianizing  the  Indian. 


QUESTIONS 

1.  How   did  "  Oregon  "  come   into   the   possession  of  the 

United  States  ? 

2.  What  historical  happenings  brought  the  Mormons  within 

the  domain  of  the  United  States  ? 

3.  Wliat  were  the  three  principal  "  Long  Trails  "  ?     Describe 

features  of  transportation  methods  peculiar  to  each, 

4.  Is    the    development    of   the    railroads    a   fulfilment  of 

prophecy  ? 

5.  Name  and  locate  ten  famous  forts  of  the  West. 

6.  Name  and  locate  ten  Indian  battles  whose  results  we  feel 

to-day. 

7.  State  briefly  links  in  the  chain  which  brought  Christianity 

over  the   Pacific  to  California.     Should  this  chain  be 
named  «•  foreign  "  or  "  home  "  missions  ? 


82         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

9.     Name  institutions  of  higher  education  whose  origin  was 

the  mission  school  ? 
10.     What  inventions  of  this  period  greatly  hastened  the  de- 
velopment of  the  West  ? 

GREAT  NAMES  OF  THE  FRONTIER 

Carson,  Crockett,  Morse,  Henry,  McCormick,  Field,  Bald- 
win, Whipple,  Kemper,  Sheldon  Jackson. 

SIGNIFICANT  DATES 
1846,  1848,  1862,  1865,  1867,  1869,    877. 

BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE 
(Setr  also  '*  Leader's  Suppletnent") 

Inman  :— '•  The  Old  Santa  Fe  Trail." 

Brooks  : — "  First  Across  the  Continent." 

Casson  : — «•  The  Romance  of  the  Reaper." 

Casson : — "  The  Romance  of  Steel  and  Iron  in  America." 

Semple  : — "  Geographical  History  of  the  United  States." 

Howry: — "Marcus    W^hitman." 

Stewart : — "  Sheldon  Jackson,  Pathfinder  and  Prospector." 

FACTS  AND  DATES 

The  Electric  Telegraph 1844 

The  Horse  Reaper 1845 

Annexation  of  Texas 1845 

The  Oregon  Treaty 1^4^ 

The  Mexican  War 1846-1848 

Discovery  of  Gold 1849 

The  War  for  the  Union 1861-1865 

Purchase  of  Alaska 1867 


The  Twentieth   Century  "Frontier'' 


IV 
THE  NEW  MIGRATION 


THE  BIBLE  LESSON 


"THE  WHOLE  FAMILY" 

iEph.3:  IS) 

And  He  made  of  one  every  nation  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the 
face  of  the  earth. 

One  God  and  Father  of  all  who  is  above  all  and  through  all, 
and  in  you  all. 

Ye  are  all  the  children  of  God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus. 

He  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren.  Behold,  My 
mother  and  My  brethren.  Whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  My 
Father  who  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  My  brother  and  sister  and 
mother.  . 


T 


IV 

THE  NEW  MIGRATION 

HUS  the  wild  land  was  tamed  and  pos- 
sessed, and  now  the  old  frontier  is 
gone! 

Can  there  be  a  twentieth  century  "  frontier  "  ? 

Let  us  gather  up  some  results  of  our  study  of 
the  old  frontier.  We  have  found  it  to  be  the 
"  hither  edge  of  free  land  "  attracting  eager  home 
seekers  and  making  for  health  and  happiness ; 
the  border-land  between  savagery  and  civiliza- 
tion ;  a  stage  of  advance  ;  the  vanguard  of  prog- 
ress. A  place  of  uncertainty,  whence  many  trails 
led  out — whither  ?  A  place,  therefore,  of  reso- 
lution and  decision,  where  only  the  strong  and 
courageous  pressed  over  the  chosen  trail  into  the 
unknown  country.  The  frontier  was  a  place  of 
vision  whence  seers  looked  off — afar.  It  was  a 
crisis — for  good  or  for  evil.  It  was  a  breaking 
with  old  ties ;  back  of  the  pioneer  was  depend- 
ence, before  him  self-reHance ;  behind,  habit; 
before,  absence  of  restraint;  and  always  was  it 
the  place  of  new  conditions  and  of  new  ways  of 
meeting  them  ;  above  all,  the  frontier  was  Oppor- 
tunity. It  made  for  character  and  developed  the 
spirit  of  America, 

85 


86         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATERS 

Just  so  is  there  a  twentieth  century  *•  frontier  "  ; 
whence  many  alluring  and  unknown  trails  lead 
out ;  a  place  of  new  and  hard  conditions  and  of 
glorious  opportunity;  where,  as  in  the  days  of 
the  old  frontier,  there  will  be  call  for  pioneers, 
wiUing  to  break  with  old  ties,  courageous  to 
meet  the  new  conditions  and  to  seize  the  oppor- 
tunity. 

Our  further  study  concerns  these  new  borders 
of  enterprise. 

For  the  sake  of  contrast,  we  turn  back  for  a 
moment  to  the  old  conditions.  We  see  that 
then  the  home  was  the  centre  of  activity.  It 
was,  of  course,  "  in  the  country,"  and  stood  alone, 
or  was  grouped  with  others  in  village  or  town. 
Each  family  supplied  its  own  needs  and,  so  far 
as  possible,  its  wants,  and  every  member  in  help- 
ing towards  this  end  became  a  skillful  worker 
along  many  Hnes  of  household  industry  and  out- 
door activity. 

Our  thoughts  being  chiefly  concerned  with 
women's  occupations,  this  extract  from  a  diary  of 
colonial  days  as  given  by  Mrs.  Earle  is  interest- 
ing. Notice  the  variety  and  wide  range  in  a 
day's  work : 

"  There  is,  in  the  library  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  So- 
ciety, a  diary  written  by  a  young  girl  of  Colchester,  Connecticut, 
in  the  year  1775.  Her  name  was  Abigail  Foote.  She  set 
down  her  daily  work,  and  the  entries  run  like  this : — 

"'Fix'd  gown  for  Prude,— Mend  Mother's  Riding-hood,— 


THE  NEW  MIGRATION  87 

Spun  short  thread, — Fix'd  two  gowns  for  Welsh's  girls, — Carded 
tow, — Spun  linen, — Worked  on  Cheese-basket, — liatchel'd  flax 
with  Hannah,  we  did  51  lbs.  apiece, — Pleated  and  ironed, — 
Read  a  Sermon  of  Dodridge's, — Spooled  a  piece, — Milked  the 
cows, — Spun  linen,  did  50  knots, — Made  a  broqm  of  Guinea 
wheat  (maize)  straw, — Spun  thread  to  whiten, — Set  a  Red  dye, 
— Had  two  Scholars  from  Mrs.  Taylor's, — I  carded  two  pounds 
of  whole  wool  and  felt  Nationly, — Spun  harness  twine, — 
Scoured  the  pewter.' 

"  She  tells  also  of  washing,  cooking,  knitting,  weeding  the 
garden,  picking  geese,  etc.,  and  of  many  visits  to  her  friends. 
She  dipped  candles  in  the  spring,  and  made  soap  in  the  autumn. 
This  latter  was  a  trying  and  burdensome  domestic  duty,  but  the 
soft  soap  was  important  for  home  use." 

It  then  was  a  girl's  pride  and  ambition  to  be- 
come the  best  housekeeper  of  the  neighbourhood, 
the  most  rapid  spinner,  or  most  skillful  weaver, 
to  have  the  whitest  linen,  to  turn  out  the  largest 
number  of  the  most  shapely  candles,  to  make  the 
finest  soap — in  short,  to  excel  in  every  branch  of 
domestic  work ;  and  the  amount  accomplished  in 
a  day  by  the  women  of  the  old  time  might  seem 
incredible  did  we  not  remember  that  the  work 
was  healthful  and  varied  and  the  workers  absorb- 
ingly interested  in  bringing  their  labours  to  a 
triumphant  conclusion. 

The  home  was  also  the  social  centre.  The 
days,  so  full  of  occupation,  yet  abounded  in  hos- 
pitality. Companionship  in  work  led  to  close 
friendships,  and  days  of  special  pressure,  when 
all  the  neighbourhood  cooperated  in  a  "  barn- 
raising,"  or  "  quilting,"  or  "  apple  bee,"  were  fol- 


88         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

lowed  by  evenings  of  fun  and  jollity.  The 
church  and  the  •'  town  meeting  "  added  other  in- 
terests, and  in  connection  with  the  latter  was  the 
ordering  of  educational  matters. 

The  school  curriculum  was  limited,  but  suited 
to  practical  needs.  Supplemented  by  the  liberal 
"  manual  training  "  of  the  home,  it  furnished  a 
good  life-equipment. 

Such,  in  brief,  were  the  conditions  of  the  early 
days.  The  evolution  of  machinery  had  much  to 
do  in  changing  them,  taking  interest  out  of 
country  life  and  attracting  a  new  migration — 
away  from  the  hard-won  country  homes  to  the 
fast-growing  manufacturing  towns. 

This  backward  flow  has  continued  until  towns 
and  cities  have  become  overcrowded,  while  in 
many  localities  farms  are  almost  or  quite  de- 
serted, villages  are  lifeless  and  churches  empty. 

Contrast  Abigail's  diary  with  a  day's  work  in 
mill  or  factory.  Throughout  the  monotonous 
hours  of  the  long  day  just  one  little  part  of  some 
article  is  made,  time  after  time,  time  after  time, 
in  duUing,  paralyzing  repetition.  Nothing  is  be- 
gun, nothing  completed,  nothing  accomplished, 
nothing  learned ;  there  is  no  possible  interest  in 
the  work,  unless  it  be  in  gaining  "  speed,"  which 
may  lead  to  increase  of  pay  or  greater  certainty 
of  employment,  and  surely  means  the  wearing 
out  of  nerves.  The  day  ends,  the  whistle  blows, 
and  work  stops.     The  next  morning  whistles 


WESLEY  CHAPEL,  THE  PREDECESSOR  OF  "OLD  JOHN 
STREET  CHURCH,"  NEW  YORK  CITY 

Built  in  1768.    {Methodist  Episcopal) 


THE  NEW  MIGEATION  89 

will  blow  and  work — the  same  work — will  begin, 
and  so  on,  endlessly. 

In  the  hours  between,  the  worker,  according 
to  her  temperament,  resorts  to  some  strong  ex- 
citement to  overcome  the  apathy  of  her  mind, 
or  relapses  into  a  state  of  semi-stupefaction. 
Too  often  there  is  no  social  or  church  interest 
within  her  reach  or,  perhaps,  desire. 

Is  there  not  here  a  challenge  to  infuse  interest 
and  life  and  spirit  into  this  dull  and  hopeless  ex- 
is*-ence ;  to  provide  in  the  city  a  substitute  for 
home  interests  ;  and  to  instill  into  country  hfe  the 
stimulating  interest  it  once  had  ? 

Once  again  we  contrast  the  early  days  with 
ours — this  time  by  a  glance  oceanwards.  Then 
the  Atlantic  was  a  lonely  waste  of  waters,  with 
here  and  there  a  tiny  « ship "  carrying  little 
groups  of  brave-hearted  immigrants,  who  "  hav- 
ing all  the  world  before  them  where  to  choose," 
yet  "  chose  "  to  follow  where  the  waters  called. 
Now  the  harbour  is  crowded  with  shipping,  and 
great  "  liners "  continually  pour  into  the  land 
thousands  of  immigrants.  Many  of  these  new- 
comers will  go  westward,  travelling  over  the  same 
trails  as  did  the  earlier  arrivals, — not  to  an  Indian 
village  or  trading  post,  but  to  the  great  city 
which  has  sprung  up  in  its  place. 

Many  thousands  also  find  their  way  to  coal 
mines  or  to  copper  mines  ;  to  lumber  camps ;  or 
they  press  on  to  win  a  home  from  the  wilderness 


90  THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

in  that  restricted  region  which  is  still  the  "  hither 
edge  of  free  land." 

The  copper  mines  of  the  Lake  Superior  region 
present  a  fine  illustration  of  the  varied  character 
of  this  new  migration,  for  here  are  thirty  nations 
at  work. 

There  are  miners  from  Cornwall,  and  Finland 
and  Lapland;  there  are  Irish,  Scotch,  Welsh, 
Germans,  Poles,  Frenchmen,  Danes,  Norwegians, 
Swedes,  Russians,  Hollanders,  Greeks,  Swiss, 
Austrians,  Belgians,  Negroes,  Slavs,  Bohemians 
— there  are  even  a  few  Chinese,  Arabians  and 
Persians. 

The  owners  of  these  mines  have  worked  out 
a  solution  of  the  immigrant  problem,  chiefly  by 
treating  the  miners  and  their  families  as  human 
beings. 

There  are  perhaps  twelve  hundred  dwelling- 
houses  belonging  to  the  company ;  comfortable 
homes  with  kitchen  gardens  attached ;  there 
are  eight  schoolhouses,  in  which  the  polyglot 
children  are  learning  to  become  good  Americans, 
speaking  English  as  their  common  tongue,  and 
saluting  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  There  is  a  free 
library  containing  thousands  of  volumes  in  many 
languages,  used  and  enjoyed  by  the  men  and 
women  of  all  the  races  living  in  this  region. 
There  are  a  club-house  ;  a  finely  equipped  hos- 
pital ;  and  thirty  churches,  occupied  by  thirteen 
different  denominations. 


THE  NEW  MIGEATIOK  91 

Here  is  a  cheering  example  of  what  may  be 
done  with  the  problem  of  immigration,  "  by 
sticking  to  the  old-fashioned  doctrines  of  fair 
play."  ' 

Mines  and  lumber  camps  in  the  East  as  well  as 
the  West,  and  new  settlements  in  regions  recently 
opened  to  home-seekers,  call  for  urgent  Christian 
effort,  for  in  all  these  is  the  frontier  a  crisis,  whose 
outcome  will  be  for  good  or  for  evil — as  may  now 
be  determined. 

THE  PRESSING  DEMAND 
A  Church  big  enough  to  overspread  a  big  land ;  broad  enough 
in  its  sympathies  to  appeal  to  and  be  appealed  to  by  all  the 
classes  of  our  society ;  eager  enough  to  carry  the  message  of  a 
saving  gospel  that  all  our  polyglot  people  shall  hear  and  under- 
stand ;  homely  enough  to  make  itself  at  home  among  the  low- 
liest ;  confident  enough  of  the  dignity  of  its  mission  to  press  its 
claims  upon  the  loftiest ;  sure  enough  of  its  truth  to  commend 
the  wisdom  of  God's  salvation  to  the  wise  ;  simple  enough  in  its 
interpretation  of  the  truth  that  the  simplest-minded  may  not  fail 
of  comprehending;  hopeful  enough  of  its  triumph  to  be  the 
worthy  minister  of  a  God  who  would  have  all  men  saved  ;  saga- 
cious enough  to  adjust  itself  to  its  delicate  task  ;  human  enough 
to  be  all  things  to  all  men  and  touch  the  common  human  chord  ; 
divine  enough  to  hallow  human  life  at  every  turn  of  its  ministry. 


One  of  these  days  a  simple-minded  prophet  will  arise  and 
calmly  inform  the  American  people  that  their  problem  of 
assimilating  the  alien  is  a  matter  of  telling  the  alien  "  How  d'ye  " 
when  he  is  encountered  on  the  street ;  of  replying  sympathet- 

1  For  full  account  of  these  mines  read  in  "  Greater  America," 
"The  Story  of  a  Copper  Mine." 


92         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

ically  to  his  questions  and  encouraging  him  to  ask  more ;  of 
practicing  a  kindly  American  humanity;  of  allowing  a  practical, 
courteous  Americanism  to  glint  in  the  eye,  to  drop  from  the 
finger-tip  and  from  the  tongue-tip,  to  smile  out  its  welcome  and 
never  to  scowl  out  its  annoyance  and  certainly  not  its  disdain. 

The  business  may  prove  a  matter  not  so  much  of  charity  funds 
as  of  common  fairness,  not  so  much  patronizing  philanthropy 
as  plain  friendliness,  less  assimilating  institutions  and  more 
intimate  associations. 

When  the  foreigner  meets  Christ  on  the  street  and  hears  from 
Him  His  kindly  message  and  gains  the  benison  of  His  loving 
ministry,  he  will  not  fail  to  recognize  His  Christliness.  The 
alien  will  join  the  Kingdom  of  God  wherever  he  finds  one  fit  to 
join.  He  is  looking  for  Christliness  ;  that  is  what  he  came  over 
to  find.  He  may  not  have  put  it  just  so  when  he  recited  his 
intentions,  but  that  is  what  he  blindly  means,  and  a  little  ex- 
perience of  Christian  humanity  will  enable  him  to  comprehend 
his  own  intentions  fully.  He  is  alert  to  learn.  Only  show  him 
Christ  and  he  will  be  drawn  to  the  Kingdom  as  the  metal  seeks 
the  magnet.— 7.  E,  McAfee. 


A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 
In  1 89 1  the  chapel  car  idea  was  evolved  and  the  first  one  put 
into  our  hands  to  go  forth  aided  by  steam  to  carry  the  gospel 
into  the  great  West.  The  first  was  an  experiment ;  but  it  soon 
grew  into  a  rich  experience.  The  railroads  welcomed  it  and 
gave  it  free  transportation  ;  one  car  followed  another,  and  now 
there  are  six,  with  men  and  women  on  them  as  missionaries 
operating  in  California,  Iowa,  Michigan,  Missouri,  Okla- 
homa, and  Texas.  More  than  ten  thousand  people  have  been 
converted  on  these  cars ;  two  hundred  Sunday-schools  have 
been  established;  a  large  number  of  meeting-houses  have  been 
built  and  paid  for. 


We  soon  came  to  "  Glad  Tidings  "  and  the  friend  could  not 
refrain  from  exclaiming  :    «  Isn't  it  a  beauty  !  "     And  such  a 


THE  NEW  MIGEATION  93 

name — who  could  ever  feel  sad  with  such  a  message  to  carry 
into  the  homes  and  hearts  of  the  people  in  the  great  West.  My 
friend  expressed  delight  more  than  once  during  the  morning  as 
he  examined  very  carefully  the  entire  equipment  of  the  car. 
Everything  was  substantial  and  nicely  made,  and  yet  there  was 
no  foolish  extravagance.  As  a  prominent  general  manager 
said  :  "  Just  right  for  its  purpose."  On  the  outside  he  found 
boxes  to  hold  three  thousand  five  hundred  pounds  of  hard  coal, 
forty  storm  windows,  four  screen  doors,  and  one  storm  door,  an 
oil  stove  and  oven,  also  a  ladder.  Looking  to  the  top  of  the 
roof  he  saw  an  eaves  trough  with  hose  connection,  so  that  the 
tanks  could  be  filled  with  rain-water.  And  when  he  passed 
inside  he  stood  amazed.  Experience  of  many  years  had  brought 
into  use  needed  appliances  for  work  and  comfort,  and  he  found 
himself  in  a  meeting-house  and  parsonage  perfectly  equipped  for 
aggressive  Christian  service. 

PLANTING  SEEDS 
In  the  early  days  of  the  frontier,  there  was  a  singular  char- 
acter known  as  "  Johnny  Appleseed."  Every  year  he  would 
gather  all  the  apple  seeds  he  could  get,  and  go  far  into  the  wil- 
derness, and  plant  his  seeds  at  each  "  likely  "  spot ;  and  when, 
many  years  after,  settlers  penetrated  these  unsettled  places,  to 
build  their  homes,  they  found  all  over  the  West  apple  trees  and 
even  orchards,  bearing  in  abundance  the  rosy-cheeked  fruit.  So 
there  is  many  a  church  flourishing  in  some  Western  city,  because 
the  colporteur  has  been  there  long  before,  and  left  his  literature 
to  speak  after  his  living  voice  has  gone. 

FROM  « TO-DAY'S   PHASES   OF  HOME  MISSION 
CONCERN " 

The  American  church  has  an  Americanizing  function. 
Effective  spiritual  ministry  is  impossible  among  unassimilated 
ingredients  of  citizenship.  Anarchism  is  a  crime  against  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  Evangelization  involves  the  cultivation  of 
loyalty  to  the  institutions  of  society.     Conscientious  citizenship 


94         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATERS 

is  a  first- fruit  of  a  Christly  redemption.  To  be  an  American, 
rightly  conceiving  the  office,  is  to  love  God  and  serve  one's 
neighbour.  Alien  elements  in  our  American  life  are,  therefore, 
the  importunate  concern  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  By  the  char- 
ter of  its  existence,  the  Church  is  committed  to  the  sympathetic 
and  Christly  assimilation  of  aliens. 


Individual  churches  in  our  largest  cities  are  forging  ahead 
and  gaining  in  efficiency.  It  is  the  common  assertion  of  the 
statisticians  that  the  city  church  as  a  whole  is  falling  behind,  far 
behind.  From  some  cities  there  are  reports  of  fewer  Protestant 
church-members  than  ten  and  twenty  years  ago,  though  the 
population  has  increased  by  enormous  proportions.  The  up- 
town movement  of  churches  is  universal.  It  cannot  be  checked 
by  declamation,  of  course;  and  most  thoughtful  students  under- 
stand how  normal  it  is.  But  none  can  overlook  the  fact  that 
increasing  proportions  of  the  populations  of  our  greater  cities 
are  out  of  reach  of  the  Church. 


Reasons  for  the  decline  of  the  country  and  village  church  are 
plain  enough  to  the  observing.  The  rural  population  is  chang- 
ing, is  vitally  changed  both  in  numbers  and  in  character  in  many 
sections.  But  the  discovery  of  these  patent  causes  does  not 
solve  the  problem  of  rural  churchlessness.  In  certain  older 
sections  of  the  country  this  condition  presents  a  more  distress- 
ing need  than  does  the  unchurched  city  population.  The  old 
country  church  is  bound  to  go  with  the  people  who  made  it  and 
maintained  it.  But  in  the  meantime  vast  numbers  of  people  are 
unreached  by  the  spiritual  forces  which  the  Church  exists  to 
wield. 

The  Church  is  more  nearly  one  in  spirit  than  ever.  Even 
Protestants  and  Romanists,  members  of  the  church  and  adherents 
of  the  synagogue,  are  seeing  eye  to  eye  in  some  interests,  are 
lifting  up  a  common  voice  on  some  vital  questions.  But  de- 
nominational administration  has  too  little  discovered  the  grow- 
ing sentiment  of  unity.     We   go   on   duplicating  plants   and 


THE  NEW  MIGEATION  95 

agencies  for  doing  a  common  work.  On  one  city  four-corners 
there  are  four  rival  religious  institutions  erected  at  rivalling  ex- 
penditures of  money.  From  one  town  of  three  hundred  in  an 
eastern  state  a  discouraged  minister  writes  of  four  Protestant 
churches  struggling  to  exist,  and  crippling  each  other  in  the 
struggle. 

POINTERS 

1.  The  Old  Frontier. 

2.  The  Twentieth  Century  "  Frontier." 

3.  One  Phase  of  the  New  Migration. 

4.  A  Day  under  the  Old  Conditions. 

5.  A  Day  under  Factory  Conditions. 

6.  Immigration  from  over  Sea. 

7.  An  Instance. 

8.  The  Opportunity  in  Mine  and  Camp. 

9.  The  City  Church. 

10.  The  Country  Church. 

11.  A  «  Church  on  Wheels." 

12.  Rivalry  in  Religious  Work. 


QUESTIONS 

1.  What  are  likenesses  and  differences  between  the  old  and 

the  new  "  frontiers  "  ? 

2.  In  what  ways  has  machinery  made  life  easier  in  industrial 

conditions  ? 

3.  Are  present  day  conditions  more  or  less  healthy  than  those 

of  the  early  days  ? 

4.  The  South  is  coming  to  a  great  industrial  power.     Will  it 

thus  gain  or  lose  "  efficiency  and  happiness  "  ? 

5.  Contrast  New  England  in  1800,  and  1900. 

6.  The  "  Migration  from  over  Sea  "  remains  largely  in  east- 

ern  cities;   what  agencies  are  aiding  its  distribution 
over  the  country  ? 


96         THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

7.  Name    specific    ways    in   which    industrial   problems  are 

complicated  by  the  new  migration. 

8.  What  factors  does  it  add  to  the  problem  ? 

9.  What  additional  spur  does  it  apply  to  Christian  efifort  ? 
10.     Will  the  "  spirit  of  America  "    be  helped  or  hindered  in 

development  by  this  new  infusion  ? 

The  first  frontier  had  these  blessings  : 

A  Home  where  righteousness  was  taught ;  and  where  there 
was  variety  of  active  work,  and  room  to  perform  it.  There 
was  hospitality  with  room  to  receive  and  enjoy  neighbourly 
visits. 

A  School — which  needed  only  to  teach  from  books,  because 
all  manual  arts  were  learned  at  home. 

All  outdoors — in  which  was  abundance  of  active,  interesting 
exercise  of  muscle  and  of  mind. 

A  Church — which  suited  the  temper  of  the  times. 

Does  the  twentieth  century  "  frontier  "  show  loss  or  gain  in 
these  respects  ? 

BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE 

Strong  :— •«  The  Challenge  of  the  City." 
Steiner  : — "  The  Trail  of  the  Immigrant." 
Patten : — "  The  New  Basis  of  Civilization." 
Rauschenbusch  : — •'  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis." 
Anderson  : — "  The  Country  Town." 

TOPICS  FOR  RESEARCH  WORK 

Immigration  : 

(a)     The  Country's  Gain.     The  Country's  Loss. 

(i)     The  Immigrant's  Gain.     The  Immigrant's  Loss. 

Monuments  :  and  What  They  Signify, 


THE  NEW  MIGEATION  97 

THE  LOCAL  FRONTIER  CLASS 

Consult :     Town   Records,  Files  of  Newspapers,  Libraries, 
«'The  Oldest  Inhabitant." 

{a)     First  Churches. 
(/5)     First  Schools. 
(f  )     First  Industries. 
(</)     First  Roads. 


The  Twentieth  Century  "Frontier" 


V 

THE  NEW  DOMAIN 


THE  BIBLE  LESSON 


THE  SCENT  OF  THE  WATERS 

{Job  14  ■  9) 

Behold  I  will  do  a  new  thing.  I  will  even  make  a  way  in 
the  wilderness  and  rivers  in  the  desert. 

In  the  wilderness  shall  waters  break  out  and  streams  in  the 
desert. 

And  the  parched  ground  shall  become  a  pool,  and  the  thirsty 
land  springs  of  water.  In  the  habitations  of  dragons  shall  be 
grass  with  reeds  and  rushes. 

The  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  shall  be  glad  for  them ; 
and  the  desert  shall  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose. 

It  shall  blossom  abundantly  and  rejoice  even  with  joy  and 
singing. 

He  turneth  the  wilderness  into  a  standing  water,  and  dry 
ground  into  water  springs,  and  there  He  maketh  the  hungry  to 
dwell  that  they  may  prepare  a  city  for  habitation,  and  sow  the 
fields  and  plant  vineyards  which  may  yield  the  fruits  of 
increase. 

When  the  poor  and  needy  seek  water,  and  there  is  none  and 
their  tongue  faileth  for  thirst,  I  the  Lord  will  hear  them,  I  the 
God  of  Israel  will  not  forsake  them. 

They  shall  not  hunger  nor  thirst ;  neither  shall  the  heat  nor 
sun  smite  them ;  for  He  that  hath  mercy  on  them  shall  lead 
them,  even  by  streams  of  water  shall  He  guide  them. 

The  Lord  shall  guide  thee  continually ;  and  thou  shalt  be 
like  a  watered  garden,  and  like  a  spring  of  water  whose  waters 
fail  not. 


THE  NEW  DOMAIN 

HERE  follows  an  "  American  Fable  "  ;  ^ 
•'  Once  upon  a  time  there  was  a 
young  nation  which  left  its  home  and 
moved  to  a  new  continent.  As  soon  as  the  peo- 
ple who  formed  the  first  settlements  began  to  ex- 
amine the  value  and  conditions  of  this  new  conti- 
nent, they  found  it  marvellously  rich  in  every 
possible  resource.  The  forests  were  so  vast  that 
they  were  not  a  blessing  in  the  early  days,  but  a 
hindrance.  The  soil  was  so  rich  and  there  was 
so  much  of  it,  that  they  were  able  at  first  only  to 
scratch  the  edge  of  their  great  property.  It  was 
quite  plain  to  these  people  in  the  early  times  that 
however  much  they  might  waste,  there  was  going 
to  be  plenty  left.  They  found  wonderfully  rich 
deposits  of  ore,  great  oil  fields  and  vast  stretches 
of  the  richest  bituminous  and  anthracite  coal 
lands ;  noble  rivers,  making  fertile  broad  ex- 
panses of  meadow,  rich  alluvial  prairies,  great 
plains  covered  with  countless  herds  of  buffalo  and 
antelope,  mountains  in  the  West  filled  with  min- 

*  By  Gifford  Pinchot.     In  the  National  Geographic  Maga- 
zine ^  May,  1908. 

lOI 


102       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

erals,  and  on  both  coasts  opportunities  richer  than 
any  nation  had  ever  found  elsewhere  before. 
They  entered  into  this  vast  possession  and  began 
to  use  it.  They  did  not  need  to  think  much 
about  how  they  used  their  coal,  or  oil,  or  timber, 
or  water — it  would  last — and  they  began  to  en- 
croach on  the  supply  with  freedom  and  in  confi- 
dence that  there  would  always  be  plenty.  The 
only  word  w^th  which  they  described  what  they 
had  when  they  talked  about  it  was  the  word  in- 
exhaustible." 

The  "fable" — like  other  fables — has  a  moral, 
which  will  presently  appear. 

The  resources  of  this  magnificent  domain  of 
three  and  a  half  million  square  miles,  are  proving 
to  be  not  "  inexhaustible,"  and  among  thought- 
ful people  there  is  awakening  a  new  patriotism, 
whose  object  is  the  preservation  of  our  splendid 
heritage  for  the  future,  and  for  the  happiness  and 
benefit  of  those  who  shall  come  after  us,  who — 
as  much  as  w^e — are  heirs  to  the  inheritance. 

How  shall  we  do  this  ?  How  can  w^e  make 
ourselves  and  those  who  shall  follow  us  happiest, 
most  vigorous,  and  most  influential? 

Mr.  Pinchot  goes  on  to  say  that  according  as 
we  accept  or  ignore  our  responsibility  as  trustees 
of  the  nation's  welfare,  our  children  and  our  chil- 
dren's children  for  uncounted  generations  will 
call  us  blessed  or  will  lay  their  suffering  at  our 
doors.     We  shall  decide  whether  their  lives,  on 


THE  NEW  DOMAIN  103 

the  average,  are  to  be  lived  in  a  flourishing  coun- 
try full  of  all  tluit  helps  make  men  comfortable, 
happy,  strong  and  effective,  or  whether  their 
lives  are  to  be  lived  in  a  country  like  the  misera- 
ble, outworn  regions  of  the  earth  which  other  na- 
tions before  us  have  possessed  without  foresight 
and  turned  into  hopeless  deserts  ;  and  he  reminds 
us  that  we  are  no  more  exempt  from  natural  laws 
than  are  the  people  of  any  other  part  of  the 
world. 

The  new  patriotism  calls  for  the  replacing  of 
forests  v/here  once  the  settler's  axe  rang  out  in 
never-ceasing  efforts  to  clear  the  land  of  trees ; 
for  less  w^asteful  use  of  coal  and  oil  and  iron ;  for 
the  conservation  of  copper  and  of  the  strength 
of  the  waters,  lest  America  should  one  day  be 
without  light  or  heat  or  power. 

"  The  public  lands  available  for  homes  did  at 
one  time  seem  *  inexhaustible  '  when  the  property 
of  the  nation  embraced  1,800,000,000  acres.  But 
this  domain  has  now  been  reduced  to  500,000,000 
acres.^  Much  of  the  remaining  land  is  desert  or 
swamp,  or  is  unproductive  because  of  the  severe 
cold  of  winter. 

The  rapid  narrowing  of  the  public  domain  and 
the  tremendous  increase  in  values  make  it  each 
year  more  difficult  for  a  man  of  small  means  to 
get  a  foothold   on   the  land  ;  and  these  facts  are 

1  Figures  as  given  by  C.  J.  Blanchardin  National  Geographic 
jSLigazine,  April,  1 908,  p.  251. 


104       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

the  more  serious  because,  in  the  American,  the 
home-making  instinct  is  a  strong  trait,  as  our 
study  has  shown.  Have  we  not  watched  its  de- 
velopment all  the  way  from  New  England's 
"  storm  bound  coast,"  to  the  fertile  valleys  of  the 
Columbia  river  ?  The  nation  has  reached  a  time 
when  the  question  of  providing  homes  for  the 
people  is  looming  large.  The  answer  is  of  tre- 
mendous national  importance,  for  "  there  is  no 
national  stability  in  a  citizenship  born  and  reared 
in  tenements." 

The  attempts  to  answer  this  question  are  re- 
sulting in  what  seems  almost  the  creation  of  a 
new  domain. 

It  is  fascinating  to  stand  by  and  watch  this  new 
creation  ;  and  also  to  listen,  for  in  the  new  domain, 
as  in  the  old,  we  hear  again  the  luring  call  of  the 
waters. 

The  pioneers  of  the  old  days  followed  the  call 
with  dauntless  courage  and  unswerving  resolu- 
tion ;  not  less  resolute  and  courageous  are  those 
twentieth  century  pioneers — the  men  of  the 
reclamation  service.  We  recall  the  cutting  of 
the  Wilderness  Road  long  ago.  It  was  good 
work,  and  bravely  done ;  but  in  the  winning  of 
the  new  domain  roads  must  often  be  cut  into  solid 
walls  of  rock  before  the  great  dams  for  storing  the 
waters  can  be  even  begun.  In  this  difficult  and 
dangerous  work,  men  are  lowered  into  canyons 
whose  walls  are  hundreds  of  feet  high,  and  with 


THE  NEW  DOMAm  105 

ropes  about  their  bodies  as  they  work,  they  put 
in  the  drill  holes  for  blasting.  From  such  a  be- 
ginning arose  the  highest  masonry  dam  in  the 
world.  We  may  best  realize  its  stupendous 
height  by  comparing  it  with  some  familiar  build- 
ing, as,  for  instance,  the  Flatiron  Building  in  New 
York.  Placed  side  by  side,  the  Shoshone  dam  in 
Wyoming  would  rise  one  story  higher.^ 

Already  life-giving  waters  flow  through  many 
thousands  of  acres  of  one-time  blinding  desert, 
but  now  a  region  of  richly  productive  farms,  and 
prosperous  homes. 

In  the  Great  Plains,  once  thought  to  be  unin- 
habitable, there  are  in  process  of  construction 
eleven  irrigation  projects  from  which  water  is  now 
available  to  fertilize  500,000  acres.  Hundreds  of 
new  homes  dot  the  prairies  in  readiness  to  put 
the  water  to  use. 

The  engineering  features  of  all  these  great 
undertakings  deserve  extended  description,  but 
space  admits  the  mention  of  only  two — the  Sun 
River  Project  in  Montana,  opened  to  settlers  in 
May,  1908,  and  the  Milk  River  Project.  In  the 
former,  the  engineers  propose  to  increase  the 
supply  by  diverting  water  from  the  streams  now 
flowing  into  the  Pacific  Ocean  through  a  gap  in 
the  Continental  divide,  to  a  watershed  which 
drains  into  the  Atlantic.  The  Milk  River 
scheme  also  needs  more  water ;  and  in  this  case 

»  C.  J.  Blanchard. 


106       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

Hudson's  Bay  will  bear  the  loss ;  for  to  augment 
the  Milk  River,  some  of  the  north-running 
streams  will  be  turned  southward. 

The  home-making  projects  of  the  Government 
include,  also,  the  drawing  off  of  too  much  water 
and  some  day  where  now  are  great  and  dismal 
swamps  shall  be  sunny  fields  "  bearing  the  bloom 
of  the  tasselled  corn." 

The  witch-hazel  wand  is  sensitive  to  water 
runnmg  forty  or  fifty  feet  below  the  surface,  and 
has  located  many  a  well  of  refreshment ;  this 
seems  remarkable  ;  but  what  shall  we  say  of  that 
scientific  skill  which  can  unerringly  show  the 
way  to  waters  flowing  three  thousand  feet 
below?  Such  wells  have  been  sunk  in  the 
Dakotas.  Flowing  beneath  the  burning  sands  of 
Arizona  are  "  inexhaustible  "  supplies  of  water, 
fresh  and  sweet.  It  remained  for  our  generation 
to  discover  and  to  make  use  of  them. 

"  Beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains  Hes  the  true 
desert ;  a  land  of  mysterious  silence,  a  land  of 
potential  greatness."  It  is  often  called  the 
inland  empire.  Here  has  been  wrested  from  a 
region  long  regarded  as  absolutely  worthless,  a 
home-supporting  area  of  splendid  fertility. 
Seventy  thousand  miles  of  canals  carry  life-giv- 
ing waters  to  10,000,000  acres  which  each  year 
produce  crops  valued  at  more  than  ^250,000,000. 

"  When  the  magic  kiss  of  canal-borne  water  " 
shall    touch    the   whole    of   this    vast   "  desert 


THE  KEW  DOMAIK  107 

empire  "  into  life,  there  need  be,  for  some  years 
at  least,  no  fear  of  congestion  of  population  or 
of  a  want  of  homes. 

We  recall  the  days  when  a  rush  of  settlers  in- 
vaded the  rich  prairie  lands  of  the  "  New  "  North- 
west. Orchards,  and  small  fruits  and  alfalfa 
were  planted.  These  flourished  and  all  went 
well  and  hopes  were  high  until  the  extreme 
cold  of  some  winter  night  dashed  all  prospects 
for  the  coming  year,  and  also  for  succeeding  years, 
and  the  homes  of  the  northwest  seemed  doomed. 

A  boy  growing  up  on  one  of  these  farms  saw 
many  hopes  thus  blighted  and  years  ago  set 
himself  to  the  task  of  learning  from  nature  how 
to  save  the  homes  of  this  beautiful  and  fertile 
but  disheartening  northwest. 

For  years  he  studied ;  he  travelled  far  in 
northern  regions  in  his  search  for  knowledge, — 
and  alfalfa ! 

Experiments  were  patiently  made,  all  tests 
have  been  applied  and  soon  will  be  ready  for 
distribution  seeds  of  alfalfa,  of  fruits  and  of 
vegetables,  warranted  to  produce  plants  and 
trees  which  shall  successfully  resist  not  cold  only 
but  also  drought  and  blasting  winds  and  plant 
diseases. 

This  great  discovery  will  bring  prosperity  to 
the  northwest,  homes  of  health  and  plenty, 
liberal  education,  and — let  us  hope — self-support- 
ing churches. 


108       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

In  the  old  days — because  of  ignorance  or 
indifference — farmers  so  worked  their  crops  as  to 
wear  out  the  land.  Present  day  knowledge  and 
interest  are  making  out  of  these  used  up  lands  a 
new  domain  to  benefit  the  generations  to  come ; 
and  in  that  day  perhaps  there  will  be  no 
"  deserted  "  farms. 

This  new  domain  will  shortly  yield  a  certain 
and  enormous  harvest.  How  shall  transporta- 
tion facilities  then  equal  the  tremendous  de- 
mand ?  For  answer  let  our  thoughts  turn  back 
to  those  musical  water  trails  upon  which  the 
Indian  or  the  French  zwyagcur  guided  his  birch 
canoe.  There  was  now  and  then  a  break  in  the 
waterway ;  the  canoe  was  carried — a  mile  per- 
haps, or  ten,  or  twenty — until  again  was  heard 
the  tinkling  call  of  the  flashing  water.  May  it 
not  be  that  these  old  "  portages  "  will  become 
connecting  canals,  and  that  thus  our  inland 
waterways  will  meet  the  demand  ? 

The  new  domain  does  not  always  stretch  out 
to  far  horizons,  but  sometimes  mounts  upward  in 
many  storied  tenements,  a  single  building  often 
containing  a  larger  population  than  is  found  in 
many  country  towns.  Such  a  population  is 
indeed  the  "  frontier "  in  the  sense  of  being  a 
place  where  new  and  difficult  conditions  must  be 
met  in  new  ways.  City  missions  expand  to 
meet  the  need  ;  settlements  and  neighbourhood 
houses,  deaconesses  and  nurses  are  doing  a  great 


THE  NEW  DOMAIN  109 

work,  and  churches  are  continually  adding  to 
their  work  "  institutional "  features.  The  subject 
is  more  fully  discussed  in  the  next  chapter  for 
the  reason  that  in  order  to  reach  a  desired  point, 
it  is  sometimes  necessary  to  "  blaze  a  new  trail." 
The  question  for  us  to  consider :  Is  the 
Church  supplying  spiritual  force  to  this  new 
domain  with  a  heroism  equal  to  that  given  by  it 
to  the  old  frontier ;  with  energy  commensurate 
to  that  of  the  Government  in  providing  homes ; 
with  a  devotion  comparable  to  that  of  men  of 
science  who  are  giving  their  lives  to  making  the 
material  life  of  the  new  domain  rich  and  full  ? 

«•  A  NEW  PATRIOTISM  " 
The  people  of  the  United  States  are  on  the  verge  of  one  of 
the  great,  quiet  decisions  which  determine  national  destinies. 
Crises  happen  in  peace  as  well  as  in  war,  and  a  peaceful  crisis 
may  be  as  vital  and  controlling  as  any  that  comes  with  national 
uprising  and  the  clash  of  arms.  Such  a  crisis,  uneventful  and 
almost  unperceived,  is  upon  us  now,  and  unwittingly  we  are 
engaged  in  making  the  decision  that  is  thus  forced  upon  us. 
And,  so  far  as  it  has  gone,  our  decision  is  wrong.  Fortunately, 
it  is  not  yet  final. 


The  question  we  are  deciding  with  so  little  consciousness  of 
what  it  involves  in  this :  What  shall  we  do  with  our  natural 
resources?  Upon  the  final  answer  that  we  shall  make  to  it 
hangs  the  success  or  failure  of  this  nation  in  accomplishing  its 
manifest  destiny. 


Few  Americans  will  deny  that  it  is  the  manifest  destiny  of 
the  United  States  to  demonstrate  that  a  democratic  republic  is 
the  best  form  of  government  yet  devised,  and  that  the  ideals 


110       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

and  institutions  of  the  great  Republic  taken  together  must  and 
do  work  out  in  a  prosperous,  contented,  peaceful,  and  righteous 
people ;  and  to  exercise,  through  precept  and  example,  an  in- 
fluence for  good  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  That  destiny 
seems  to  us  brighter  and  more  certain  of  realization  to-day  than 
ever  before.  It  is  true  that  in  population,  in  wealth,  in  knowl- 
edge, in  national  efficiency  generally,  we  have  reached  a  place 
far  beyond  the  farthest  hopes  of  the  founders  of  the  Republic. 
Are  the  causes  which  have  led  to  our  marvellous  development 
likely  to  be  repeated  indefinitely  in  the  future,  or  is  there  a 
reasonable  possibility,  or  even  a  probability,  that  conditions  may 
arise  which  will  check  our  growth  ? 


It  is  this  national  attitude  of  exclusive  attention  to  the  pres- 
ent, this  absence  of  foresight  from  among  the  springs  of  national 
action,  which  is  directly  responsible  for  the  present  condition 
of  our  natural  resources.  It  was  precisely  the  same  attitude 
which  brought  Palestine,  once  rich  and  populous,  to  its  present 
desert  condition,  and  which  destroyed  the  fertility  and  habit- 
ability  of  vast  areas  in  Northern  Africa  arid  elsewhere  in  so 
many  of  the  older  regions  of  the  world. 


No  patriotic  citizen  expects  this  nation  to  run  its  course  and 
perish  in  a  hundred,  or  two  hundred,  or  five  hundred  years  ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  we  expect  it  to  grow  in  influence  and 
power  and,  Avhat  is  of  vastly  greater  importance,  in  the  hap- 
piness and  prosperity  of  our  people.  But  we  have  as  little  rea- 
son to  expect  that  all  this  will  happen  of  itself  as  there  would 
have  been  for  the  men  who  established  this  nation  to  expect 
that  a  United  States  would  grow  of  itself  without  their  efforts 
and  sacrifices.  It  was  their  duty  to  found  this  nation,  and  they 
did  it.  It  is  our  duty  to  provide  for  its  continuance  in  well-be- 
ing and  honour. 


That  duty  it  seems  as  though  we  might  neglect.     Not  in 
wilfulness,  not  in  any  lack  of  patriotic  devotion,  when  once  our 


THE  NEW  DOMAIN  111 

patriotism  is  aroused,  but  in  mere  thoughtlessness  and  inability 
or  unwillingness  to  drop  the  interests  of  the  moment  long 
enough  to  realize  that  what  we  do  now  will  decide  the  future 
of  the  nation. 


The  profoundest  duty  that  lies  upon  any  father  is  to  leave  his 
son  with  a  reasonable  equipment  for  the  struggle  of  life  and  an 
untarnished  name.  So  the  noblest  task  that  confronts  us  all  to- 
day is  to  leave  this  country  unspotted  in  honour,  and  unex- 
hausted in  resources,  to  our  descendants,  who  will  be,  not  less 
than  we,  the  children  of  the  founders  of  the  Republic.  I  con- 
ceive this  task  to  partake  of  the  highest  spirit  of  patriotism. — 
Gifford  Pinchot. 

THAT  NORTHWEST  PASSAGE 
The  mention  of  Hudson's  Ray,  or  indeed  of  any  eastern 
waters,  calls  to  mind  the  patient  search  of  the  old  voyagers  for 
the  longed  for  Northwest  Passage.  Not  a  stream  flowed  into 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  that  their  little  ships  did  not  enter — hope- 
fully. It  is  curious  that  just  at  this  time,  when  all  these  rivers 
and  many  others  which  the  old  sailors  knew  not  of,  have  been 
traced  to  their  first  little  silver  trickle,  honours  and  medals  should 
be  bestowed  upon  the  first  man  to  sail  his  own  ship  through  the 
much  desired  "  Passage." 

THE  FOUNDATION  OF  THE  NATION 
There  is  congestion  to-day  in  many  of  our  cities,  and  the 
menace  of  a  great  population  underfed  and  poorly  housed  looms 
more  darkly  each  year.  So  great  is  the  land  hunger  that  al- 
ready a  quarter  of  a  million  families,  comprising  some  of  the 
best  blood  of  the  nation,  have  expatriated  themselves  and  taken 
up  new  homes  under  a  foreign  flag.  What  is  the  use  of  preach- 
ing love  of  home  and  country  when  we  offer  nothing  but 
crowded  tenements  to  the  toiler  who  seeks  to  earn  a  roof  over 
his  family  ? 

Our  nation's  greatness  has  its  foundations  in  the  home  of  the 
man  whose  feet  are  firmly  planted  upon  his  own  land.     There 


112       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEKS 

is  no  national  stability  in  a  citizenship  born  and  reared  in 
tenements.  Patriotism,  loyalty,  and  civic  pride  are  not  bred 
and  fostered  in  the  crowded  centres  of  population.  The  destiny 
of  the  nation  is  foreshadowed  in  the  provisions  made  for  the 
prosperity  and  contentment  of  its  citizens.  An  assurance  that 
the  great  mass  of  our  people  shall  reside  in  homes  of  their  own 
is  an  insurance  that  our  future  will  be  one  of  stabihty  and 
progress. 


We  pause  to  observe  a  large  flock  of  ostriches  wandering 
over  an  alfalfa  meadow  and  rub  our  eyes  to  be  sure  we  are 

really  in  our  own  country.  More  familiar  to  us  appear  the 
sleek,  fat  cattle  standing  knee-deep  in  the  cool  alfalfa.  This 
alfalfa  is  a  wonderful  crop  down  here,  a  veritable  farmer's  bank 
account,  frequently  yielding  twelve  tons  to  an  acre  per  year, 
worth  from  five  to  twelve  dollars  per  ton. 

We  linger  just  a  moment  to  gather  a  few  oranges  from  the 
grove  beside  the  road,  and  as  we  eat  we  wonder  why  such  fruit 
never  comes  to  our  tables. 

There  is  such  a  riot  of  colour  about  this  cottage  that  we  want 
to  stop  long  enough  to  ask  the  housewife  how  she  can  get  roses 
to  bloom  in  this  wonderful  way,  but  we  have  a  long  journey 
and  we  only  learn  that  most  farmers'  wives  in  this  valley,  hav- 
ing both  time  and  inclination,  delight  in  beautifying  their 
homes. — Home-Making  by  the  Government. 

"THE  LAND  THAT  GOD  FORGOT  "  i 
All  too  quickly  we  have  driven  over  this  flowery,  fruitful 
vale.  With  a  suddenness  that  is  startling  we  come  upon  a 
scene  of  death  and  desolation,  where  everything  bears  mute 
evidence  of  a  terrible  struggle  for  life.  It  is  the  land  some  one 
called  "  The  Land  that  God  Forgot."  Everything  that  grows 
is  covered  with  a  thorn  ;  everything  that  crawls  is  deadly.  It 
is  a  topsyturvy  wonderland.  We  may  not  drink  of  the  waters 
of  the  desert  stream,  for  they  are  salty.     In  this  strange  region 

'^National  Geographic  Magazine^  April,  1908. 


THE  NEW  DOMAIN  113 

they  dig  for  wood  and  climb  for  water,  for  the  water  is  found 
in  cup-shaped  pools  in  the  hills  and  the  wood  is  the  big  root  of 
the  mesquite. 

For  twenty  miles  our  road,  a  government  road,  stretches 
across  the  desert  and  we  begin  to  feel  some  of  its  compelling 
and  pervasive  mystery.  There  is  a  beauty  and  charm  about  it, 
too,  which  cannot  be  described.  The  distant  buttes  are  glow- 
ing richly  red  in  the  early  morning  light  and  the  landscape, 
some  one  has  said,  "suggests  a  thought  of  God's  original 
palette  whereon  He  mixed  the  colours  with  which  He  brought 
forth  the  glories  of  a  southwest  sunset,"  the  opal-tinted  morn 
and  the  fairest  shades  of  rose  and  green  and  yellow. 

The  desert  vegetation  is  interesting.  We  come  upon  the 
Sahaurra,  the  giant  cactus,  the  sentinel  of  the  desert,  clothed 
from  base  to  top  with  thorns,  yet  bearing  delicate  and  waxen 
yellow  blossoms.  Singly  and  in  pairs  they  grow,  some  attain- 
ing a  height  of  forty-five  feet.  Sometimes  we  find  them  in 
groves.  The  cliff-dwellers  used  the  heart  of  this  plant  for 
floors  in  their  houses. 

Rising  straight  up  from  the  desert  is  a  distant  range  of  moun- 
tains. They  seem  to  float  above  the  edge  of  the  level  plain, 
intangible  and  unreal,  yet  transcendently  beautiful  in  colouring 
and  contour. 

As  we  enter  the  mountain  country  glory  after  glory  of  view 
is  presented.  Changeful,  charming  landscape  panoramas  are 
unfolded  before  us.  The  colours,  illusive  and  divinely  artistic, 
shift  and  change  and  blend  as  we  gaze  in  wonder  and  amaze- 
ment. 


We  are  now  entering  upon  what  many  travellers  have  de- 
scribed as  the  most  wonderful  highway  ever  made  by  man — a 
great  thoroughfare  built  for  forty  miles  through  the  heart  of  a 
rugged  range  of  mountains  and  for  the  most  part  literally 
carved  from  the  living  rock.  It  would  be  impossible  for  human 
artist  to  duplicate,  far  less  to  exaggerate,  the  colours  which  the 
Divine  Hand  has  put  upon  these  stones. 

I  need  not  tell  you  that  road-building  in  a  country  like  this 


114       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATERS 

was  difficult ;  that  fact  stares  you  in  the  face  at  every  point. 
When  the  surveying  party  reached  the  top  of  Fish  Creek  Hill 
the  engineer  called  a  halt.  He  wanted  time  to  think ;  and  the 
problem  before  him  demanded  thought.  He  looked  over  the 
cliff  into  a  blind  canyon,  into  which  there  was  not  even  a  foot 
trail.  A  thousand  feet  sheer  below  him  he  could  discover 
faintly  a  tiny  stream  of  water  and  a  few  green  trees.  How 
was  he  going  to  get  there  with  a  wagon  road  over  which  tons 
and  tons  of  machinery  must  be  hauled  ?  A  hurried  reconnais- 
sance disclosed  the  fact  that  to  go  around  the  canyon  meant  add- 
ing fifteen  miles  to  the  road.  It  was  not  to  be  thought  of.  So 
he  decided  to  blast  a  road  down  the  face  of  the  steep  cliff,  and 
it  was  done. 

It  would  be  simply  terrifying  to  go  over  the  road  to-day  but 
for  the  fact  that  the  Government  has  built  it  broad  and  com- 
fortable, with  easy  grades  and  many  safe  turnouts ;  for  standing 
here  at  the  end  of  the  road  a  pebble  slipped  from  the  fingers 
shoots  almost  straight  down  a  thousand  feet  without  stopping. 

POINTERS 

1.  The  Old  and  New  Point  of  View. 

2.  The  New  Patriotism. 

3.  Home-Making      across     the     Continent — A     Backward 

Glance. 

4.  The  Shrinkage  of  the  Old  Domain. 

5.  The  "  Creation  "  of  a  New  Domain. 

6.  The  New  Call  of  the  Waters. 

7.  Saving  the  Homes  of  the  Northwest.* 

8.  The  Inland  Waterways. 

9.  Mounting  Skywards. 

10.  The  Destiny  of  America. 

11.  ••  The  Land  that  God  Forgot." 

12.  "A  Thousand  Feet  without  Stopping." 

QUESTIONS 
I.     What  is  the  "  moral  "  of  Mr.  Pinchot's  fable  ? 

»See  "The  Romance  of  a  Scientist:'— fVor/d's  IVork, 
Api-il,  1908. 


THE  I^EW  DOMAIN  115 

2.  Upon  what  does  the  future  prosperity  of  America  rest  ? 

3.  Why    is    home-providing    a    question    of    national    im- 

portance ? 

4.  What  has  brought  men  to  the  adoption  of  a  policy  of  con- 

servation ? 

5.  How  is  sufficient  water  obtained  for  the  vast  irrigating 

schemes  of  the  Government  ? 

6.  How  were  the  underground  rivers  made  known  ? 

7.  By  whose  discovery  has  prosperity  been  brought  back  to 

the  Northwest  ?  ^ 

8.  Are  the  old  '«  Portages  "  likely  to  become  connecting  links 

in   the   new  "Inland  Waterways"?     (Make  a  draw- 
ing of  old  trails  and  "  carries."  ) 

9.  What  is  the  "  frontier  "  of  the  tenement  ? 

la     Does  the  Church  measure  up  to  its  opportunity  ? 

TOPICS  FOR  RESEARCH 

New  Projects  for  Irrigation. 

The  Story  of  Alfalfa. 

Intensive  Farming. 

Extensive  Farming. 

Hudson  Bay  as  a  Summer  Resort. 


FOR  REFERENCE 

riles  of  "  The  World's  Work." 

The  World  To-Day. 

The  National  Geographic  Magarine. 

Government  Reports. 

Current  Magazines,  and 

The  Daily  Press. 

Paine  : — "  The  Greater  America." 

'  See   "  The    Romance  of   a    Scientist". —  World's    Work, 
April,  1908. 


The  Twentieth   Century  "Frontier** 


VI 
BLAZING  A  NEW  TRAIL 


THE  BIBLE  LESSON 


NEW  THINGS  DO  I  DECLARE 

{Isa.  42  :  9) 

Behold  I  create  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth  and  the 
former  shall  not  be  remembered  nor  come  into  mind, 

I  will  put  a  new  spirit  within  you.  No  man  rendeth  a  piece 
from  a  new  garment  and  putteth  it  upon  an  old  garment ;  else 
he  will  rend  the  new  and  also  the  piece  of  the  new  will  not 
agree  with  the  old. 

And  no  man  putteth  new  wine  into  old  wine-skins ;  else  the 
new  wine  will  burst  the  skins  and  itself  will  be  spilled  and  the 
skins  will  perish. 

But  new  wine  must  be  put  into  fresh  wine-skins. 

And  they  were  all  amazed  insomuch  that  they  questioned 
among  themselves  saying  what  is  this?  a  new  teaching? 

Old  things  are  passed  away ;  behold  they  are  become  new. 

A  new  commandment  I  give  unto  you  that  ye  love  one 
another,  as  I  have  loved  you. 

Behold,  I  make  all  things  new. 

We,  according  to  His  promise,  look  for  new  heavens  and  a 
new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness. 


THE     FIRST     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH     BUILDING, 
JAMAICA,   L.    I. 


VI 

BLAZING  A  NEW  TRAIL 

FOR  hundreds  of  years  these  words  have 
often  been  read,  "  There  shall  be  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness." 

All  at  once — apparently — this  promise  is 
looked  at  by  many  persons  from  a  new  point  of 
view. 

They  do  not  now  think  of  the  new  earth 
merely  as  a  far  off  possibility  in  a  dim, 
vague  and  distant  future ;  rather  is  it  our  present 
world  made  righteous  and  "  new,"  and  this 
twentieth  century  bears  the  inspiration  and  glow 
of  the  realization  that  by  living  the  principles 
and  spirit  of  Christ  we  may  lift  the  burdens  and 
repressions  that  have  led  to  so  much  of  evil  and 
set  free  forces  that  will  make  for  good,  and  so 
hasten  the  coming  of  that  new  earth,  wherein 
shall  dwell  righteousness. 

In  some  parts  of  our  land  there  arc  terrible 

conditions   of  wretchedness  and  misery,   which 

kindly  disposed  people  have  long  tried  to  cure, 

or,  at  least,  to  alleviate.     The  new  point  of  view 

119 


120       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

is  that  much  of  the  sickness  and  suffering  and 
wrong-doing  is  not  necessary  and  may  be  pre- 
vented,—as  the  suffering  of  the  man  who  fell 
among  thieves  when  going  up  to  Jerusalem  need 
not  have  been  had  the  Jericho  road  been 
properly  policed.^ 

As  an  illustration  of  the  new  point  of  view, 
we  look  back  at  the  records  of  summers  in  the 
past  when  life  was  simply  a  long  terror  because 
yellow  fever  was  abroad  in  the  land.  The 
records  show  shocking  scenes  of  horror  and 
instances  of  glorious  heroism.  Many  doctors 
and  nurses  gave  up  their  lives  in  efforts  to 
check  the  "  scourge  "  which  was  "  visited  "  upon 
us.  Was  it  a  "  visitation  " — hopeless  to  strive 
against? 

So  it  was  once  considered — but  greater  knowl- 
edge has  changed  the  point  of  view.  A  few 
courageous  pioneers  went  forth  and  blazed  a 
new  trail.  Others  followed.  The  cause  was 
discovered,  prevention  was  begun,  and  the  dread 
of  yellow  fever  as  an  epidemic  has  already 
passed  away. 

The  terror  and  suffering,  the  selfishness  and 
the  self-sacrifice  were  all  unnecessary  had  men 
but  known  how,  and  cared,  to  prevent  them. 

Think  for  a  moment  of  the  misery  and 
wretchedness  in  this  land  owing  to  tuberculosis 
— the  "  white  plague "  ;  and  fancy,  if  you  can, 
1  «♦  The  New  Basis  of  Civilization,"  p.  86. 


BLAZIKG  A  NEW  TRAIL  121 

America's  gain  in  happiness  and  in  efficiency 
when  freed  not  only  from  the  ravages  of  the 
disease  but  also  from  the  fear  of  it.  Great 
efforts  are  being  put  forth  to  accomplish  this  end, 
and  also  to  prevent  the  spread  of  other  conta- 
gious disease. 

Within  a  short  time  many  cities  have  suddenly 
come  to  a  realization  of  the  fact  that  the  appar- 
ent listlessness  and  lack  of  mental  ability  and 
moral  strength  shown  by  thousands  of  school 
children  are  really  a  matter  of  imperfect  nutri- 
tion. 

How  shall  this  problem  of  the  underfed  be 
solved  ?  Many  plans  have  been  proposed.  One 
described  below  ^  has  been  successfully  carried 
out  in  a  school  where  many  children  in  the 
primary  classes  were  chronically  underfed,  weak, 
undeveloped  and  unable  to  learn  properly. 

First  of  all  was  estabhshed  a  well  equipped 
kitchen,  with  every  appHance  for  the  preparation 
and  cooking  of  food.  The  cooks  employed 
were  highly  skilled.  Most  careful  study  was 
given  to  securing  variety  as  well  as  nutrition, 
and  by  a  lavish  expenditure  of  love  and  labour 
a  series  of  seventeen  bills  of  fare  was  pre- 
pared so  that  the  same  dish  is  never  served  more 
than  once  in  three  weeks.  Something  like  this 
happens  every  day  in  the  bright  and  airy  dining- 
rooms  where  are  seated  about  two  hundred 
1 «  The  World  To-day,"  p.  544,  May,  1908. 


1L^2       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

children,  eager,  glad  and  hungry.  One  would 
suppose  a  long  narrow  table  to  be  a  ne- 
cessity, but  instead  of  it  are  many  small  tables  so 
that  groups  of  friends  may  sit  together.  Each  is 
covered  with  a  snowy  linen  cloth,  the  children 
have  table  napkins  and  there  are  bright  flowers 
on  every  table.  The  pretty  china  has  been 
chosen  with  much  care  for  the  reason  that  the 
teachers  believe  in  the  influence  of  beauty  as 
well  as  cleanliness.  The  hot  and  wholesome 
food  is  brought  to  the  tables ;  but  before  the 
meal  begins  the  children  sing  grace, — a  simple 
song  in  which  all  can  join,  no  matter  what  the 
nationality  or  religious  faith  may  be.  Two 
hundred  child  voices  fill  the  room  with  rich 
melody  for  a  few  seconds,  after  which  there  is 
the  different  music  of  the  chatter  of  happy 
children,  mingled  with  clattering  dishes,  knives 
and  forks.  After  the  meal,  there  is  first  the 
playground,  then  the  schoolroom ;  and  all  the 
afternoon  instead  of  hungry,  listless  or  sullen 
and  irritable  children,  the  teachers  have  the  en- 
joyment of  scholars  who  are  at  once  able  and 
willing  to  be  taught.  Education  to  these  wise 
teachers  means  the  development  of  a  sound 
mind  in  a  sound  body.  They  depend  upon  a 
sound  physical  development  as  the  basis  of 
mental  and  spiritual  growth.  The  bright  flowers 
continue  their  gentle  ministry  in  the  school- 
room, or  are  sent  to  sick  children,  or  go  to  their 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TEAIL  123 

sick  mothers  in  the  tenement  homes  from  which 
the  children  come."  ^ 

There  are  overworked  as  well  as  underfed 
little  children  in  this  land  of  ours.  Nothing,  un- 
less it  be  intemperance  of  father  or  mother, 
makes  life  so  pathetic  as  this.  It  is  sorrowful 
and  pathetic  enough  while  the  tiny  fingers  and 
weary  little  bodies  ceaselessly  work  ;  and  one 
may  scarcely  think  of  the  dwarfed  and  thwarted 
after-life,  if  indeed  there  is  after-Hfe. 

Here  is  a  picture  of  this  labour  of  little  chil- 
dren in  a  flower  factory. 

Lisabetta,  Marianina,  Fiametta,  Teresina,^ 

They  are  winding  stems  of  roses,  one  by  one,  one  by  one — 

Little  children  who  have  never  learned  to  play : 

Teresina  softly  crying  that  her  fingers  ache  to-day, 

Tiny  Fiametta  nodding  when  the  twilight  slips  in,  gray. 

High  above   the   clattering  street,  ambulance  and  fire-gong 

beat, 
They  sit,  curling  crimson  petals,  one  by  one,  one  by  one. 

Lisabetta,  Marianina,  Fiametta,  Teresina, 

They  have  never  seen  a   rose-bush  nor  a  dewdrop  in  the  sun. 

They  will  dream  of  the  vendetta,  Teresina,  Fiametta, 

Of  a  Black  Hand  and  a  Face  behind  a  grating ; 

They  will  dream  of  cotton  petals,  endless,  crimson,  suffocat- 
ing, 

Never  of  a  wild-rose  thicket  nor  the  singing  of  a  cricket. 

But  the  ambulance  will  bellow  through  the  wanness  of  their 
dreams, 

»From    «'The   World   To-day,"   May,   1908.      "How    the 
world  of  to-day  is  preparing  for  the  world  of  to-morrow." 
2  Copyright  by  the  S.  S.  McClure  Company. 


124       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

And   their  tired   lids  will  flutter  with  the  street's  hysteric 
screams. 

Lisabetta,  Marianina,  Fiametta,  Teresina, 

They  are  winding  stems  of  roses,  one  by  one,  one  by  one, 

Let  them  have  a  long,  long  play-time,  Lord  of  Toil,  when 

toil  is  done  ! 
Fill  their  baby  hands  with  roses,  joyous  roses  of  the  sun. 

Some  wise  person  long  ago  discovered  that  all 
work  and  no  play  made  "  Jack  "  a  dull  boy.  We 
have  advanced  upon  this  and  learned  that  Jack 
without  play  is  likely  to  become  a  bad  boy  as 
well  as  a  dull  one. 

The  boy  in  the  city — where  can  he  play? 
Cities  are  likely  to  continue  for  a  long  time  to 
come ;  children  must  grow  up  in  them,  and  it  is 
surely  the  duty  of  a  good  citizen  to  see  that  the 
city  is  a  good  place  for  their  growth.  The  cause 
of  the  playground  has  certainly  advanced  far 
when  the  annual  report  of  the  Park  Commission- 
ers of  a  certain  city  contains  a  paragraph  like 
this: 

No  better  use  of  city  funds  can  be  made  than  for  the  pur- 
chase of  new  playgrounds,  and  no  citizen  of can  make 

a  better  gift  to  his  fellow  citizens  or  one  of  more  surviving  value 
to  many  generations  than  a  playground. 

Even  brief  extracts  from  the  many  playground 
bulletins  would  exceed  space  limits  ;  but  we  must 
include  a  few  words  from  the  Chairman  of  a  cer- 
tain Parks  and  Drives  Committee : 


BLAZma  A  NEW  TEAIL  125 

Parks  are  no  longer  made  for  spectacular  purposes.  The 
most  splendid  monument  cannot  compete  with  a  load  of  sand  as 
a  practical  benefit  to  the  children  and  the  mothers  of  the  chil- 
dren. It  would  give  me  a  thousand  times  more  pleasure  to 
show  some  tired  mother  the  way  to  a  sand  pile  in  a  children's 
playground  than  to  take  the  most  distinguished  visitor  to  the 
top  of Hill. 


The  movement  for  children's  playgrounds  is 
scarcely  ten  years  old,  yet  almost  every  large  city 
of  the  North  and  East  has  already  some  free  play- 
grounds. New  York  has  one  hundred  vacation 
playgrounds,  and  twenty-six  evening  recreation 
centres.  Chicago  has  within  these  ten  years  ap- 
propriated ;^  1 0,000,000  for  small  parks  and  play- 
grounds. The  Chicago  recreation  centres  pro- 
vide indoor  and  outdoor  gymnasiums  for  men 
and  women,  sand-gardens  and  wading- pools  for 
the  smaller  children,  ball  fields  for  the  bigger 
boys  and  men,  and  outdoor  swimming  pools. 
There  is  a  National  Playground  Society,  and  in 
a  dozen  or  more  cities  are  Playground  Associa- 
tions. School  gardens  and  school  farms  are 
doing  wonders  in  character  building,  but  in  large 
cities  it  is  difficult  to  find  garden  soil — so  much 
so  that  the  small  gardeners  must  sometimes 
"  take  turns  "  in  the  use  of  tiny  plots. 

All  these  healthful  activities  and  the  sunshine 
and  fresh  air,  have  marvellous  and  permanent 
effect  in  liberating  **  righteousness  "  and  diminish- 
ing crime ;  happy  and  intensely  interested  chil- 


126        THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

dren — or  older  people — are  not  usually  those  who 
fill  reformatories.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  the 
streets  claim  many,  many  children,  especially 
when  schools  are  closed  for  the  summer;  not- 
withstanding, too,  the  many  and  delightful  vaca- 
tion schools. 

As  another  illustration  of  the  new  view  point, 
we  mention  that  fine  work  of  college  men  and 
women,  the  Vacation  Daily  Bible  Schools,  which 
has  already  developed  four  distinct  stages. 
First : — A  warm  day  in  the  summer  vacation ; 
the  sun  is  hot,  the  cit}'  streets  are  dusty.  Chil- 
dren are  idling  or  quarrelling  in  these  streets,  their 
efforts  at  amusement  having  been  checked  by  the 
"  cop."  A  pleasant-looking,  energetic  young 
lady,  who  walks  in  a  way  that  indicates  that  she 
finds  life  worth  Hving,  makes  her  way  to  some  of 
the  listless  or  fighting  children.  She  talks  awhile 
in  an  animated  way,  and  presently  starts  off  in 
the  direction  of  a  cool-looking,  ivy-covered 
church.  The  children  follow  her,  and  they  all 
troop  into  the  church,  by  one  door,  just  at  the 
moment  when  a  brisk  young  man  is  ushering  in 
a  group  of  boys  through  another  door. 

There  is  singing,  the  beginning  of  what  will 
be,  before  vacation  is  over,  beautiful  and  delight- 
ful music.  There  are  Bible  stories,  to  which  the 
children  listen  with  great  delight.  Some  one 
who  knozvs  how  tells  the  story  of  Joseph,  or 
David,  perhaps,  or  Daniel.     These  tales  are  new 


BLAZING  A  KEW  TEAIL  127 

to  the  children  ;  they  do  not  know,  as  they  Hsten 
breathlessly,  whether  Joseph  will  ever  get  out  of 
that  well,  whether  the  mighty  giant  will  crush  the 
Hfe  out  of  David,  or  how  soon  the  hons  may 
devour  Daniel.     So  it  is  all  very  exciting. 

After  an  hour  of  stories  and  more  singing, 
there  is  an  hour  of  pleasant  work  with  the  hands, 
weaving,  carving,  sewing — more  singing,  then 
the  children  go  out  again  into  the  hot  and  dusty 
streets,  but  they  have  had  a  fine  time  and  will 
surely  come  again  to-morrow.  Besides  that 
pleasure,  the  brisk  young  man  has  invited  the 
boys  to  play  ball  with  him  in  the  afternoon. 

Second : — Many  such  groups  in  other  churches 
of  the  same  city. 

Third  : — Similar  groups  in  other  cities. 

Fourth : — A  national  organization  of  such 
groups,  which  may  become  a  pioneer  to  other 
nations. 

One  of  the  noblest  illustrations  of  the  new  plan 
of  prevention  of  crime  and  misery  rather  than 
punishment  for  it,  is  seen  in  the  Juvenile  Court. 
By  this  method  of  dealing  with  youthful  break- 
ers of  the  law,  thousands  of  boys  and  girls  are 
saved  to  live  lives  of  right-doing,  of  self-respect 
and  the  respect  of  others.  The  most  celebrated 
of  these  courts  is  in  Denver,  but  in  many  cities 
the  plan  here  inaugurated  by  Judge  Lindsay  has 
been  adopted. 

All  these  instances  are  simply  illustrations  of 


128       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

the  new  spirit  at  work  which  would  help  boys 
and  girls  and  men  and  women  to  come  up  to  the 
highest  stature  of  manhood  and  womanhood  that 
it  is  possible  for  them  to  attain. 

This  spirit  works  in  other  ways  in  city  and  in 
country ;  among  Americans  and  those  who  are 
becoming  Americans;  and  thus  Christian  people 
are  trying  to  meet  the  new  conditions  of  this  rap- 
idly changing  age. 

Some  one  has  said  that  if  we  could  but  stand 
off  and  view  the  events  of  which  we  are  a  part 
we  would  clearly  see  that  we  are  in  the  midst  of 
as  revolutionary  changes  as  were  any  movements 
of  the  Renaissance  or  of  the  Reformation,  and  a 
great  writer  has  told  us  that  if  at  this  juncture  we 
can  rally  sufficient  religious  faith  and  moral 
strength  to  snap  the  bonds  of  evil  and  turn  the 
present  unparallelled  economic  and  intellectual 
resources  of  humanity  to  the  harmonious  develop- 
ment of  a  new  social  life,  the  generations  yet  un- 
born will  mark  this  as  that  great  day  of  the  Lord 
for  which  the  ages  waited,  and  count  us  blessed 
for  sharing  in  the  apostolate  that  proclaimed  it.^ 

Thus  may  we  see  the  spirit  of  America  devel- 
oped by  the  old  frontier  fulfill  itself  in  a  true 
Christianity,  and  our  inheritance — won  for  us  by 
the  courage  and  labours  of  the  pioneers,  and  en- 
riched by  our  faith  and  hope  and  love  be  the  yet 
nobler  inheritance  of  the  generations  to  come. 
* "  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis,"  p.  422. 


i 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TEAIL  129 


HOW  ONE  MAN  SAVED  A  TOWN 

(  To  be  used  as  a  reading^ 

By  George  Holley  Gilbert 
Reprinted  by  kind  permission  of  The  Outlook 

THE  town  of  X ,  well  settled  by  im- 
migrants for  Connecticut  and  south- 
western Massachusetts  in  1761,  was 
run  down.  Broad  stretches  of  hillside  and  even 
some  of  the  lowland,  which  once  produced  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-five  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre, 
were  covered  so  thickly  with  prairie  weed  (Poten- 
tilla  fruticosd)  and  steeple-top  that  even  Angora 
goats  could  not  find  subsistence  among  it.  Pastures 
which  until  the  middle  of  last  century  had  af- 
forded the  best  of  grazing,  pastures  clean  and 
well  fenced,  were  now  given  over  to  brush'and 
thistles,  to  brakes  and  briers,  and  the  few  cattle 
that  ranged  through  the  thickets  were  ill-favoured 
and  lean-fleshed  like  the  harbingers  of  famine  in 
Pharaoh's  dream. 

Then  and  Now:    A  Contrast 
Some  of  the  valley  meadows  where  our  fathers 

Author's  Note: — Mr.  Gilbert's  story  carries  us  back  in 
thought  to  the  old  frontier  of  New  England  and  at  the  same 
time  presents  in  a  true  picture,  the  twentieth  century  "  fron- 
tier." It  furnishes  practical  answer  to  many  of  the  questions 
raised  in  the  foregoing  study  of  present-day  conditions  and  is  a 
fine  illustration  in  the  concrete  of  the  "  new  "  patriotism. 


130       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

saw  clover  and  timothy  waist-high  in  June,  and 
luxuriant  fields  of  corn  in  August,  were  "sick- 
lied o'er  "  with  a  little  faded  wire-grass,  rarely 
thick  enough  to  furnish  a  screen  for  the  nest  of 
the  bobolink  and  song-sparrow.  Only  the  wide- 
spreading  forests  looked  sound  and  vigorous,  as 
one  could   easily  believe  they  had   appeared  to 

the  first  settlers.     But  the  people  of  X made 

little  use  of  the  forests. 

Where  the  meadows  and  pastures  were  run 
out,  the  houses  and  barns  were  dilapidated,  sug- 
gesting by  their  hingeless  doors,  their  rotting 
sills  and  broken  window-panes  an  abandonment 
of  the  struggle  with  time  and  the  elements.  Old 
houses  were  seldom  repaired,  new  ones  w^ere 
never  built  unless  for  summer  use  by  city  people. 
The  life  of  the  town  in  general,  prior  to  the 
career  which  we  are  about  to  sketch,  was  slowly 

receding.     As  X was  a  purely  agricultural 

community,  the  exhaustion  of  the  soil  lowered 
the  tone  and  vitality  of  the  inhabitants  socially 
and  religiously,  as  a  low  fever  saps  the  resources 
of  the  human  system. 

The  Trend  in  the  Wrong  Direction 
The  district  school  was  indeed  still  in  session, 
but  with  diminishing  numbers  and  a  marked  de- 
cline in  the  efficiency  of  the  teachers,  due,  no 
doubt,  in  part  to  the  diminution  of  the  school 
funds  of  the  town.     The   church  also  was  still 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TEAIL  131 

open  every  Sunday,  but  the  little,  dispirited  con- 
gregation heard  no  voice  calling  them  to  possess 
the  land.  Half  of  the  meeting-house  sheds  were 
filled  with  old  wagons,  lumber  and  sawdust.  The 
roll  of  the  church  contained  names  which  even 
the  most  charitable  person  could  not  believe  to 
be  written  in  the  book  of  life,  and  offenses  against 
divine  law  which  the  Jews  of  old  punished  with 
stoning  were  allowed  to  flourish  in  the  light  of 
day,  a  constant  menace  to  the  morals  of  the  ris- 
ing generation.  There  had  been  a  grange  in  the 
town  for  a  few  years,  but  it  had  gone  to  pieces, 
as  everything  else  seemed  to  be  doing  as  fast  as 

possible.     Things    were    not   as    bad    in  X 

by  a  good  deal  as  they  might  have  been,  but  the 
trend  had  long  been  in  the  wrong  direction. 
The  present  was  depressing,  and  no  one  saw 
better  days  ahead.  The  settlement  plan  for  the 
regeneration  of  decadent  towns,  which  was  to  be 
set  forth  attractively  and  forcibly  in  The  Outlook 
in  the  year  1900,  had  not  yet  risen  on  the 
thought  of  men. 

The  Starting-point  of  a  Forward  Movement 
Then   something   took    place    in  the  town  of 

X ,  in  the  year  1888 — an  event  of  the  same 

mysterious  sort  as  those  that  have  been  the  start- 
ing-points of  many  forward  movements  in  human 
history.  A  young  man,  born  and  brought  up  in 
the  town  and  loving  it  well,  who  had  been  edu- 


132       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATERS 

cated  at  the  district  school,  at  an  academy  in  a 
neighbouring  town,  and  an  agricultural  college, 
formed  a  notable  decision.  He  had  come  home 
to  the  old  farm  with  his  diploma  and  carrying  in 
his  pocket  an  offer  of  a  position  with  good  pay 
in  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture  in  Washington. 
There  was  also  the  attraction  of  life  at  the  na- 
tional capital  and  of  association  with  experts  in 
all  departments  of  agricultural  science.  But  this 
was  not  all.  His  own  brother  was  in  Iowa  on  a 
large  farm,  and  had  written  him  glowing  letters 
of  the  opportunities  which  awaited  him  beyond 
the  Mississippi. 

The  young  man  in  question,  whose  identity 
we  may  not  disclose  but  whom  we  will  call,  sym- 
bolically, Mr.  Life,  was  not  deaf  to  these  calls. 
He  would  have  done  the  natural  thing  had  he 
gone  to  Washington,  or,  if  he  wished  a  more  in- 
dependent life,  had  gone  to  Iowa.  His  father 
advised  him  to  go  into  the  Government  office ; 
no  one  held  out  any  inducement  to  lead  him  to 
remain  at  home. 

Not  Money  but  Manhood  and  Service: 
A  Vision 

But  he  had  been  asking  the  question  in  him- 
self, What  should  be  my  aim  in  Hfe?  And 
whenever  he  thought  seriously  on  the  question, 
it  seemed  clear  that  the  aim  should  not  be  money, 
but  manhood  and  service.     The  question  of  aim 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TEAIL  133 

led  on  to  the  question,  Where  can  I  make  most 
of  myself  and  do  most  for  my  kind  ?  Then  tiiere 
rose  before   his  inner  eye  the  vision  of  another 

town   of  X ,  a  town  in  which  the  trend  was 

upward,  where  farming  paid,  where  homes  were 
attractive,  where  social  life  was  clean  and  gener- 
ous, where  school  and  church  stood  for  more 
than  they  did  at  present  or  ever  had  in  the  past. 
What  nobler  ambition  could  he  have  than  to 
realize  this  vision  ?  Would  not  this  be  as  worthy 
a  contribution  to  his  native  land  as  he  could  hope 
to  make  anywhere?  The  vision  haunted  him, 
and,  believing   that   he   could    turn  the  tide   of 

affairs  in  X ,  he  decided  to  do  it. 

This  was  twenty  years  ago,  and  twenty  years 
are  not  a  long  time  in  the  life  of  a  town.  But 
the  tide  was  turned,  and  the  vision  of  the  young 
man  has  been  in  part  realized.  And  this  is  how 
it  has  been  done. 

Turning  the  Tide 
In  ten  years  he  rejuvenated  the  old  farm.  He 
knew  that  this  was  fundamental,  that  his  vision 
of  a  higher  town  life  rested  on  clear  success  in 
farming.  Here  he  was  confronted  by  three 
serious  problems,  which  tested  his  Yankee  wit 
as  well  as  his  experience  and  knowledge  gained 
at  the  agricultural  college.  There  was,  first  of 
all,  the  problem  of  help.  The  physical  tasks 
awaiting  him  were  too  great  for  one  man,  how- 


134       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

ever  strong  and  full  of  hope.  Otherwise  his 
father  would  have  accomplished  those  tasks,  but 
as  a  matter  of  fact  he  was  always  '•  under  the 
harrow." 

Solving  the  Problem  of  '*  Help" 

Following  the  example  of  a  lumberman  whom 
he  knew,  Mr.  Life  went  to  New  York,  hired  a 
young  Swede,  and   brought   him   with   his   wife 

back  to  X .     The  old  tenement  which  his 

father  had  used  for  storage  had  been  thoroughly 
repaired,  freshly  painted  and  papered,  and  pro- 
vided with  new  furniture.  This  involved  some 
expense,  but  he  felt  that  it  was  good  business 
policy  as  well  as  a  Christian  sort  of  thing  to  give 
the  man  who  was  to  work  with  him  an  attractive 
and  comfortable  home.  He  had  even  had  the 
forethought,  while  in  New  York,  after  he  had 
found  his  man,  to  subscribe  for  a  Swedish  weekly 
for  him  ;  and  perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  the  spirit  which  prompted  this  little  act  for  the 

stranger  who  was  to  farm  with  him  up  in  X 

was  itself,  in  good  part,  the  solution  of  the  labour 
problem  in  his  case.-  It  was  this  spirit  which  led 
him  at  the  end  of  a  year  to  take  the  Swede  into 
partnership  with  him,  giving  him  besides  his 
monthly  wage  a  percentage  of  all  produce  that 
was  marketed.  After  three  years  a  second 
Swedish  family,  near  relatives  of  the  first,  w^as 
secured,  and  the  farm  now  afforded  ample  oppor- 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TEAIL  135 

tunity  for  all.  To  anticipate  a  little,  it  may  be 
noticed  here  that  the  second  man  turned  out  to 
be  an  exceptionally  successful  gardener,  and  a 
piece  of  land  which  had  yielded  about  thirty  dol- 
lars a  year  in  grass,  a  swampy  place  infested  by 
moles,  was  brought  by  him  in  three  summers  to 
yield — chiefly  in  celery — just  thirty-fold  as  much 
revenue.  Little  more  need  be  said  of  Mr.  Life's 
relation  to  the  problem  of  help.  The  immigrant 
and  cooperation  in  a  liberal  spirit — this  was  the 
solution  in  his  case. 

The  Second  Problem 
The  second  problem  which  the  young  man 
faced  was  the  restoration  of  the  soil.  Here  his 
agricultural  course  and  his  constant  contact, 
through  books  and  papers,  with  the  Government 
experiment  stations  and  with  progressive  farm- 
ers— for  there  are  progressive  farmers  even  in 
rural  New  England — were  of  great  value.  Fully 
forty  acres  of  his  two  hundred  he  proceeded  at 
once  to  reforest,  sowing  sugar  maple  seed  over  a 
large  area  that  was  most  easily  accessible,  and  a 
variety  of  coniferous  and  deciduous  trees  on  the 
remaining  acres,  making  a  special  experiment 
with  the  eucalyptus  for  railway  ties.  These  forty 
acres  are  now  rapidly  becoming  a  valuable  asset, 
and  promise  in  another  twenty  years  to  be  worth 
several  times  as  much  as  the  entire  farm  when  he 
took  it. 


136       THE  CALL  OP  THE  WATEES 

Concentration 
In  regard  to  the  better  grade  of  land,  that 
which  was  tolerably  level  and  free  from  rocks, 
the  chief  point  in  Mr.  Life's  method,  as  he  tells 
me,  was  concentration.  Not  concentration  on 
one  crop,  for  he  has  greatly  increased  the  variety 
of  products  from  his  farm,  but  concentration  on 
a  small  piece  of  land.  Beginning  with  a  few 
acres,  he  has  now,  in  twenty  years,  brought  from 
thirty  to  thirty-five  acres  of  land  up  to  a  high 
state  of  fertility.  He  soon  discovered  that  the 
soil  was  not  so  completely  exhausted  as  had  been 
thought.  It  was  in  part  only  "  tired  "  of  doing 
the  same  thing  year  after  year,  with  no  assistance 
except  that  of  rain  and  sun.  Intensive  farming, 
such  as  is  practised  in  Saxony,  for  example,  Mr. 
Life  thinks  best  adapted,  not  only  to  his  place 

in  X ,  but  to  hundreds  of  farms  throughout 

New  England. 

The  Problem  of  a  Market 
The  third  and  more  delicate  of  the  greater 
problems  which  had   to  be  met  by  Mr.  Life  was 

how  to  market  his  produce.     No  one  in  X 

understood  how  to  do  this.  Maple  syrup  of  ex- 
cellent quality  was  sold  in  bulk  for  sixty  or 
seventy  cents  a  gallon,  and  then,  having  been 
heavily  adulterated,  was  retailed  in  the  cities  for 
twice  as  much.  Mr.  Life  did  what  all  farmers  in 
similar   circumstances    must   learn  to    do,  indi- 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TRAIL  137 

vidually  or  cooperatively  ;  he  studied  the  markets, 
visited  two  or  three  of  the  nearest  large  cities, 
showed  his  produce  in  practical  and  attractive 
form,  and  sold  direct  to  large  houses.  He 
learned  in  this  way  what  was  demanded,  in  what 
form  various  articles  were  most  salable,  and  where 
to  sell.  The  amount  saved  in  this  manner,  to- 
gether with  the  saving  on  some  of  the  larger 
purchases  necessary  for  the  home  and  farm, 
which  he  secured  by  buying  in  the  city,  was  of 
itself  sufficient  to  make  a  success  of  what  would 
otherwise  have  been  the  old  discouraging  story. 
There  was  also  a  real  satisfaction,  not  to  be  over- 
looked, in  the  consciousness  of  being  able  de- 
cently and  profitably  to  complete  the  farmer's 
task. 

After  Ten  Years 

These  three  problems,  though  by  no  means 
the  only  ones  which  confronted  Mr.  Life,  are 
enough  to  introduce  into  this  brief  chronicle. 
With  their  solution  and  ten  years  of  enthusiastic 
work,  the  old  farm  was  transformed  and  the 
material  basis  was  secured  for  the  realization  of 
the  higher   part    of  his   vision.     He  had   made 

farming   pay   in  X ,  pay  not  only  in  dollars 

and  in  the  large  increase  in  the  value  of  property, 
but  also  in  pleasure  and  in  the  sense  of  power 
that  was  gained  by  triumphing  over  adverse  con- 
ditions.    His  example  gave  light  and  hope  to 


138       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

others  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  a  half-dozen 
farms  were  soon  beginning  to  rise  with  his  own. 
In  more  than  one  case  inteUigent  cooperation 
proved  that  where  there  had  previously  been 
hardly  enough  to  feed  and  clothe  one  family 
there  was  now  enough  to  feed  and  clothe  two, 
and  something  left  over. 

Intensive  Farming 
The  idea  of  intensive  farming  also  won  its  way, 
and,  as  the  years  have  passed,  it  has  created  lit- 
tle oases  in  the  midst  of  the  general  poverty  of 
the  fields.  In  regard  to  the  marketing  of  pro- 
duce, the  neighbours  of  Mr.  Life  were  glad  to 
make  use  of  his  knowledge  and  ability,  for  not 
every  farmer  was  qualified  to  follow  his  example  ; 
and  the  result  was  a  cooperative  sellers'  league, 
through  which  Mr.  Life,  who  has  always  been  its 
president  and  has  gladly  given  his  services,  has 
been  able  to  raise  the  standard  of  excellence  in  a 
number  of  important  products. 

The  Original  Aim 
But  in  the  ten  years  given  to  saving  the  old 
farm  Mr.  Life  did  not  lose  sight  of  his  original 
aim — manhood  and  service.  Instead  of  fadinof 
into  the  light  of  common  day,  his  vision  of  a 
higher  type  of  town  took  on  new  definiteness, 
and  seemed  more  realizable  and  worth  while 
than  at  first.     As  he  succeeded  in  farming,  and 


BLAZING  A  KEW  TEAIL  139 

saw  the  new  spring  time,  which  was  caUing  out  a 
wealth  on  his  own  place  undreamed  of  before, 
touching  one  and  another  of  the  neighbouring 
farms,  he  began  to  wonder  whether  he  could  not 
carry  on  into  the  higher  Hfe  of  the  town  the 
principles  by  which  he  was  solving  the  problems 
of  the  material  life.  He  pondered  the  matter 
deeply. 

The  School  and  the  Church 
The  little  unpainted  schoolhouse,  half  buried 
in  a  tangle  of  choke- cherry  bushes,  which  he 
saw  twenty  times  a  day,  often  reminded  him  of 
it,  and  he  could  not  fail  to  think  upon  it  Sunday, 
when,  with  a  few  others,  he  went  to  the  well-nigh 
deserted  and  altogether  discouraged  village 
church.  Could  he  do  for  the  school  and  the 
church  anything  Hke  what  he  had  done  for  his 
farm  ? 

So  he  asked  himself  what  he  had  really  done 
for  the  farm,  and  found  that  he  could  state  it  very 
simply. 

Making  it  Pay 

He  had  put  himself  into  it ;  he  had  made  it 
pay  ;  by  making  it  pay  he  had  awakened  the  de- 
sire in  other  farmers  to  put  his  ideas  into  prac- 
tice, and  they  had  begun  to  do  it.  He  had  not 
urged  his  neighbours  to  change  their  methods. 
He  had   not  taken  pains  to  distribute    among 


140       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

them  books  and  papers  on  agriculture  or  maga- 
zine articles  on  the  decadent  New  England  town. 

He  had  just  shown  them  that  farming  in  X 

might  be  made  to  pay  well.  Thus  far  this  had 
been  his  only  gospel — not  preached  but  simply 
incarnated  in  his  new- old  farm.  Not  all  heeded 
it,  but  some  did,  and  the  tide  was  turned. 
Could  he  apply  this  simple  principle  to  the  higher 

life  of  X ? 

This  is  what  Mr.  Life  undertook  in  earnest 
about  ten  years  ago.  The  district  school,  as  it 
was  near  and  drew  its  pupils  from  his  immediate 
neighbourhood,  seemed  the  best  field  in  which  to 
begin.  He  knew  he  was  not  a  trained  educator, 
but  he  was  on  the  ground  and  the  trained  edu- 
cator was  not,  and,  moreover,  he  knew  the  peo- 
ple. So,  in  the  leisure  which  he  was  now  able  to 
get  from  farm  work,  he  studied  this  new  soil  and 
began  to  put  his  life  into  it,  as  he  had  put  it  into 
his  land  ten  years  before. 

Study  of  the  New  Soil 
The  voters  of  the  district  had  confidence  in 
him,  for  he  had  not  only  saved  his  farm,  but  he 
had  done  it  in  a  generous,  neighbourly  spirit. 
When,  therefore,  he  said  that  the  school  ought 
to  yield  double  or  treble  the  returns  which  they 
were  getting  from  it,  and  that  he  thought  he  saw 
how  this  could  be  done,  they  reph'ed  that  if  he 
would  go  ahead  they  would  follow.     The  result 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TEAIL  141 

— for  we  cannot  follow  the  course  of  affairs  in 
detail — was  briefly  this  :  At  the  end  of  five  years 
they  had  had  but  two  teachers,  and  hoped  to 
keep  the  present  one  indefinitely ;  they  had  their 
studies  graded  as  in  the  Massachusetts  grammar 
schools ;  they  had  a  library  of  between  sixty  and 
seventy  volumes,  in  which  the  history  of  New 
England,  the  poets  and  essayists  of  New  Eng- 
land, had  a  prominent  place ;  and  best  of  all,  to 
judge  from  the  interest  which  the  children  took 
in  its  varied  occupations  and  aims,  was  the  school 
farm  of  two  acres  fenced  and  given  by  Mr.  Life 
for  the  use  of  the  scholars. 

The  School  Farm 

All  work  on  it  was  directed  by  a  committee 
of  three,  consisting  of  the  teacher  and  of  one  boy 
and  one  girl  elected  annually  by  the  school. 
Mr.  Life,  besides  furnishing  the  children  seed  and 
friendly  advice,  offered  to  take  all  the  produce  of 
the  school  farm  at  its  market  value.  He  made  a 
suggestion,  which  has  become  a  tradition  at  the 
school,  that  the  children  should  have  one-half  of 
all  that  they  could  produce,  and  that  they  should 
give  the  other  half  to  the  beautifying  of  the 
schoolhouse. 

Two  facts  remain  to  be  noticed  in  this  connec- 
tion. As  the  school  entered  on  its  sixth  year, 
the  children  of  two  neighbouring  districts,  seeing 
what  was  going  on,  asked  if  they  might  not  come 


142       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATERS 

to  this  school.  The  outcome  was  that  the  nearer 
of  the  two  districts  was  merged  in  Mr.  Life's, 
and  the  school  funds  were  correspondingly  in- 
creased. The  children  were  eager  to  go  the 
longer  distance  for  the  sake  of  being  in  "  Mr.  Life's 
school." 

Progressive  Farmers'  Wives 
The  other  fact  is  this  :  In  the  ten  years  since 
the  rebirth  of  the  school,  whose  roll  has  never 
contained  more  than  thirty  names,  seven  have 
gone  away  for  further  education,  while  in  the 
twenty-five  years  prior  to  that  event  only  one 
pupil  of  the  school  had  continued  his  studies. 
And  besides  this  a  considerable  number  of  the 
scholars  have  imbibed  so  much  of  Mr.  Life's 
spirit  in   the  school  farm   that,  if  they  become 

farmers  or  farmers'  wives  in  X ,  it  is  almost 

certain  that  they  will  be  of  the  progressive  sort. 
It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that  Mr.  Life  sees  in  the 
metamorphosis  of  the  district  school  of  his  neigh- 
bourhood a  partial  fulfillment  of  his  vision,  nor 
that  he  takes  pleasure  in  turning  a  generous  part 
of  the  increase  of  his  farm  into  this  hopeful  chan- 
nel. 

But  in  following  Mr.  Life's  relation  to  the 
children  of  his  neighbourhood  we  have  passed  the 
beginning  of  his  third  effort  for  his  native  town. 
He  had  made  his  farm  a  gospel  to  the  country- 
side ;  he  had  made  his  district  school  a  magnet 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TEAIL  143 

which  actually  drew  boys  and  girls  from  adjoin- 
ing districts  ;  but  for  a  long  time  he  saw  no  way 
of  applying  his  fundamental  principle  to  the 
church. 

"  Concentration  "  Once  More 
He  felt  that  the  church,  or  rather  the  religious 
nature  of  the  membership,  was  in  a  condition 
similar  to  that  of  his  poorest  land,  which  he  was 
now  reforesting.  But  how  reforest  this  spirit- 
ually waste  soil  ?  How  should  he  help  to  make 
the  church  in  its  way  as  attractive  as  his  meadows 
or  the  school  farm  ?  He  was  ready  to  give  of 
his  hfe,  if  he  could  see  how  to  do  it  so  as  to  se- 
cure adequate  returns.  It  finally  occurred  to 
him,  to  use  his  own  figure,  that  he  might  regard 
the  minister  as  he  did  the  piece  of  land  which 
he  chose  at  the  first  for  intensive  farming.  So 
he  quietly  began  to  concentrate  his  energies  at 
this  point.  He  brought  the  minister  again  and 
again  to  his  farm,  showed  him  just  how  he  made 
the  farm  pay,  explained  how  the  soil  had  been 
raised  to  a  high  state  of  fertility,  how  he  utilized 
all  waste,  and  how  he  disposed  of  his  produce. 

Breaking  the  Ban  of  Hopelessness 
At  length,  when  he  had   baptized  the  minis- 
ter in  his  own  enthusiasm  for  farming,  when  he 
had  broken  the  ban  of  hopelessness  that  had  al- 
ways seemed  to  rest  on  him,  and  had  created  in 


144       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

him  an  interest  in  something  progressive,  he  told 
him  frankly  of  his  aim  in  life — that  his  farm  was 
intended  as  an  evangelist,  and  invited  him  to  be- 
come a  silent  partner  and  to  receive,  for  three 
years  at  least,  one-quarter  of  the  farm's  net  earn- 
ings for  use  in  his  church  work.  This  experience 
was  to  the  minister  like  the  appearance  of  the 
angel  to  Paul  on  the  ship  which  was  driving 
helplessly  and  hopelessly  before  the  northeast 
typhoon.  He  saw  the  analogy  between  an  ex- 
hausted farm  and  an  exhausted  church,  and  argued 
that  he  ought  to  be  able  to  secure  as  clear  a 
transformation  of  his  church  as  Mr.  Life  had 
made  of  the  old  meadows. 

The  idea  of  intensive  spiritual  farming  took 
hold  of  him.  He  began  to  try  it  on  himself. 
Instead  of  getting  next  to  nothing  from  two 
hundred  acres — planted,  so  to  speak,  for  soci- 
ology, evolution,  political  economy,  theology  an- 
cient, theology  modern,  new  and  newest — he 
decided  to  concentrate  on  the  simple  rehgion  of 
Jesus. 

Intensive  Spiritual  Farming 

And  as  he  did  so  there  was  at  once  a  new  note 
in   his    preaching,  a  new  spirit  in    his  life,  and, 

what  had  been  unknown  in  the  church  of  X 

for  a  generation,  there  were  unmistakable  signs 
of  power.  Here  was  something  so  new  and 
strange  that  he  hardly  knew  what  to  think  of 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TRAIL  145 

it — returns,  dividends,  income  from  his  religion. 
Here  was  something,  after  all,  that  paid. 

Of  course  his  work  in  the  parish,  with  scarcely 
any  premeditation  on  his  part,  became  intensive 
like  that  which  he  had  been  doing  in  his  own 
study.  It  is  too  soon  to  say  much  of  results, 
even  if  I  were  at  liberty  to  do  so.  Exhausted 
land  can  be  renewed  in  three  or  four  years ;  an 
exhausted  church  requires  longer.  But  it  is 
clear  that  a  new  day  has  dawned  in  the  church  of 

X .     There  are   no   more  organizations    for 

religious  work.  Indeed,  it  is  quite  likely  that  the 
arrival  of  life  may  render  some  of  the  existing 
organizations  unnecessary. 

*•  'Tis  life  whereof  our  nerves  are  scant. 
More  life  and  fuller  that  we  want." 

Intensive  farming  brought  increase  of  life  to 

the  meadows  in  X ,  and  is  doing  the  same  in 

the  church. 

The  Vision  Coming  to  Fulfillment 
Twenty  years  are  just  passed,  and  the  vision 
is  coming  to  fulfillment.  At  three  crucial  points 
the  tide  has  been  turned.  This  has  been  done 
from  within,  and  every  one  who  visits  Mr.  Life's 
farm  or  the  district  school,  as  I  have  done,  will 
say  that  his  work  pays.  Yes,  and  every  one 
who  has  an  ear  for  the  Gospel,  every  one  who 
recognizes  the  signs  of  spiritual  power,  will  say 


146       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

that  nothing  that  Mr.  Life  has  done  is  really- 
paying  better  than  his  private  partnership  with 
the  village  minister. 

In  a  few  months  our  New  England  schools  of 
agriculture  will  confer  diplomas  on  about  seventy- 
five  young  men.  Of  these  a  few  may  enter  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Government,  more  will  probably  feel 
called  to  become  teachers  in  the  rapidly  develop- 
ing agricultural  institutions  of  the  country ;  but  if 
half  of  the  number,  yea,  if  one-quarter  or  even  one- 
tenth  of  the  number,  would  dedicate  themselves, 
in  the  spirit  of  Mr.  Life,  to  the  rejuvenation  of 
rural  New  England,  they  would  make  this  year 
forever  memorable.  If  rural  New  England  is  to 
be  saved  for  the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims  and 
the  Puritans,  if  it  is  to  furnish  in  coming  years  a 
high  type  of  agricultural  prosperity  and  an  in- 
creasing number  of  homes  in  which  leaders  shall 
be  trained  who  will  be  worthy  of  the  New  Eng- 
land succession,  then  something  like  the  career 
of  Mr.  Life  must  enter  into  the  history  of  many 
towns. 


THE  OLD  AND  NEW  CHARITY 

Civilization  spares  us  more  and  more  the  sight  of  anguish, 
and  our  imaginations  must  be  correspondingly  sharpened  to  see 
in  the  check-book  an  agent  as  spiritual  and  poetic  as  the  grime 
and  bloodstain  of  ministering  hands. 


*'  In  the  capitalists  the  corrective  emotion  is  a  generosity  that 
is  developing  in  two  forms.     The  first  may  be  called  use-altru- 


BLAZmG  A  KEW  TRAIL  147 

ism,  for  it  is  such  paternal  kindness  as  opens  private  picture- 
galleries  to  the  public  and  permits  a  limited  and  conditional  use 
of  the  parks  and  gardens  of  estates.  In  that  measure  it  adds  to 
the  fund  of  socialized  wealth.  The  other  sort  is  an  economic 
altruism,  a  public  generosity  which  is  willing  to  bestow  gifts 
without  conditions  and  to  be  taxed  for  public  and  far-reaching 
ends.  Both  kinds  grow  rapidly ;  and  each  capitalizes  wealth 
for  social  purposes  with  the  quality  of  future  utility.  It  is  this 
quality  which  must  be  lacking  in  service-alti-uism.  The  differ- 
ence is  that  which  separates  the  old  from  the  new  charity. 
The  one  crossed  the  road  to  help  the  Samaritan  after  he  had 
suffered  under  bad  conditions  of  highway  management;  the 
other  patrols  the  road  and  arrests  the  wayside  thieves  before 
the  traveller  falls  among  them.  Service-altruism  binds  the 
wounds,  breathes  forgiveness,  and  solaces  the  victims  of  recur- 
ring disasters  without  attacking  their  causes.  Income-altruism 
hews  to  their  base,  for  it  has  the  money  power  to  police  and  to 
light  the  road  to  Jericho." 


Character  is  aroused  by  vivid  ideas  and  long-sought  ends.  It 
is  never  built  out  of  new  material  or  improved  by  hardship  and 
restraint. 

It  often  happens  that  the  simplest  means  attain  the  greatest 
ends.  Taken  alone,  pleasure  appears  sinful,  and  work  is  a 
drudgery,  but  when  the  two  are  united  in  just  proportions  the 
effects  seem  magical. 


Now  look  at  the  brighter  side.  It  is,  without  doubt,  more 
difficult  than  was  once  believed  to  lift  a  man  with  normal  facul- 
ties to  a  higher  plane  of  existence ;  but  it  is  far  easier  than  we 
have  thought  to  raise  a  man  below  the  general  level  of  humanity 
up  to  it.  There  are  no  differences  between  him  and  his  normal 
neighbours  which  cannot  be  rapidly  obliterated.  He  does  not 
lack  their  blood,  but  their  health,  their  good  fortune,  their 
culture,  and  their  environment.  The  doctrine  that  teaches  that 
evolution  is  the  slowest  of  moving  forces  also  teaches  that  the 
distinctions  between  men  on  the  two  sides  of  the  line  of  poverty 


148       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

are  frailer  than  we  have  been  led  to  believe.  The  faculties 
and  social  qualities  of  human  nature  were  implanted  in  it 
before  the  beginnings  of  history ;  but  health,  vigour,  and  good 
fortune  are  determined  by  to-day's  environment. —  The  New 
Basis  of  Civilization. 

A  THOUSAND  MILES  OF  BOYS 

Next  July  a  message  is  to  be  carried  afoot  from  the  Mayor  of 
New  York  to  the  Mayor  of  Chicago.  The  carriers  will  be 
seven  hundred  boys  between  fifteen  and  seventeen  years  old. 
For  a  week  or  so,  during  the  night  as  well  as  the  day,  some  lad 
will  be  speeding  across  the  country  at  the  rate  of  a  mile  run. 
The  first  will  start  from  the  City  Hall  in  New  York  and  run 
northward.  At  the  end  of  a  mile  a  second  will  be  awaiting  him 
and  on  his  arrival  will  seize  the  message  and  carry  it  to  the 
next  mile-post.  There  is  probably  but  one  organization  that 
could  select  these  carriers  solely  from  its  own  membership 
along  the  route,  and,  by  representatives  already  on  the  line  of 
the  race,  arrange  for  all  details  and  guard  the  race  as  it  occurs. 
That  organization  is  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 
The  boys  selected  for  this  event  will  be  under  special  training. 
No  boy  will  have  any  other  competitor  than  time,  or  receive 
any  prize  other  than  the  honour  of  wearing  his  Association's 
colours.  A  generation  ago  no  religious  organization  could  have 
attempted  anything  of  this  sort.  What  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  has  accomplished  in  uniting  with  the 
Hebrew  the  Greek  ideal  in  religion,  interpreting  Christianity 
as  a  force  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  man,  body  as  well  as 
mind  and  spirit,  is  dramatically  embodied  in  this  picturesque 
undertaking The  Outlook. 

THE  PRAYER 

Lover  of  souls,  indeed. 

But  Lover  of  bodies  too. 
Seeing  in  human  flesh 

The  God  shine  through; 


BLAZmG  A  NEW  TEAIL  149 

Hallowed  be  Thy  name, 

And,  for  the  sake  of  Thee, 
Hallowed  be  all  men, 

For  Thine  they  be. 

Doer  of  deeds  divine. 

Thou,  the  Father's  Son, 
In  all  Thy  children  may 

Thy  will  be  done. 
Till  each  works  miracles 

On  poor  and  sick  and  blind. 
Learning  from  Thee  the  art 

Of  being  kind. 

For  Thine  is  the  glory  of  love, 

And  Thine  the  tender  power, 
Touching  the  barren  heart 

To  leaf  and  flower. 
Till  not  the  lilies  alone, 

Beneath  Thy  gentle  feet, 
But  human  lives  for  Thee 

Grow  white  and  sweet. 

And  Thine  shall  the  Kingdom  be, 

Thou  Lord  of  Love  and  Pain, 
Conqueror  over  death 

By  being  slain. 
And  we,  with  the  lives  like  Thine 

Shall  cry  in  the  great  day  when 
Thou  comest  to  claim  Thine  own, 

"  All  Hail !     Amen." 

— Dawson. 

THE  SOCIAL  CRISIS 
Since  the  Reformation  began  to  free  the  mind  and  to  direct 
the  force  of  religion  towards  morality  there  has  been  a  per- 
ceptible increase  of  speed.     Humanity  is  gaining  in  elasticity 


150       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATERS 

and  capacity  for  change  and  every  gain  in  general  intelligence, 
in  organizing  capacity,  in  physical  and  moral  soundness,  and 
especially  in  responsiveness  to  ideal  motives,  again  increases 
the  ability  to  advance  without  disastrous  reactions.  The 
swiftness  of  evolution  in  our  own  country  proves  the  immense 
latent  perfectibility  in  human  nature. 


Last  May  a  miracle  happened.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
week  the  fruit  trees  bore  brown  and  greenish  buds.  At  the  end 
of  the  week  they  were  robed  in  bridal  garments  of  blossom. 
But  for  weeks  and  months  the  sap  had  been  rising  and  distend- 
ing the  cells  and  maturing  the  tissues  which  were  half  ready  in 
the  fall  before.  The  swift  unfolding  was  the  culmination  of  a 
long  process.  Perhaps  these  nineteen  centuries  of  Christian 
influence  have  been  a  long  preliminary  stage  of  growth,  and 
now  the  flower  and  fruit  are  almost  here. 


Western  civilization  is  passing  through  a  social  revolution 
unparalleled  in  history  for  scope  and  power.  Its  coming  was 
inevitable.  The  religious,  political,  and  intellectual  revolutions 
of  the  past  five  centuries,  which  together  created  the  modern 
world,  necessarily  had  to  culminate  in  an  economic  and  social 
revolution  such  as  is  now  upon  us. 


By  universal  consent,  this  social  crisis  is  the  overshadowing 
problem  of  our  generation.  The  industrial  and  commercial  life 
of  the  advanced  nations  are  in  the  throes  of  it.  In  politics  all 
issues  and  methods  are  undergoing  upheaval  and  re-alignment 
as  the  social  movement  advances.  In  the  world  of  thought  all 
the  young  and  serious  minds  are  absorbed  in  the  solution  of  the 
social  problems.  Even  literature  and  art  point  like  compass- 
needles  to  this  magnetic  pole  of  all  our  thought. 


Individually  we  are  not  more  gifted  than  our  grandfathers, 
but  collectively  we  have  wrought  out  more  epoch-making  dis- 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TRAIL  151 

coveries  and  inventions  in  one  century  than  the  whole  race  in 
the  untold  centuries  that  have  gone  before.  If  the  twentieth 
century  could  do  for  us  in  the  control  of  social  forces  what  the 
nineteenth  did  for  us  in  the  control  of  natural  forces,  our  grand- 
children would  live  in  a  society  that  would  be  justified  in  re- 
garding our  present  social  life  as  semi-barbarous. —  Christianity 
and  the  Social  Crisis. 


HEALTH  AND  SANITY 

That  there  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men,  with  flood  and  ebb, 
we  will  admit  readily  enough,  even  without  the  added  assur- 
ance of  the  poet.  All  about  us,  if  our  eyes  are  open  to  see,  we 
discover  the  subsiding  of  certain  great  tides  of  popular  feeling. 
Equally  clear  is  the  rising  of  others,  slowly,  perhaps,  like  the 
water-line  on  a  shallow  beach,  or  as  swiftly  as  a  tidal  wave. 
Public  interest  goes  by  pulses. 

Magazines  devoted  to  physical  training,  to  athletic  sports ; 
articles  everywhere  on  good  health  and  right  living,  indicate 
the  enormous,  unprecedented  interest  which  the  American 
public  feels  just  now  in  setting  life  right  on  the  physical  side. 

Has  the  tide  reached  the  flood  yet  ?  It  is  hard  to  say.  But 
one  thing  is  certain ;  there  will  be  a  turn  eventually — a  slow 
but  inevitable  subsidence.  It  is  neither  good  science  nor  good 
sense  to  disregard  this  fact. 


As  significant,  perhaps,  if  not  more  so,  is  the  universal  in- 
terest, of  only  a  few  years'  growth,  in  the  subject  of  personal 
and  public  hygiene.  "  The  city  of  Philadelphia  spends  more 
annually  in  the  interest  of  public  health  than  did  the  whole 
English-speaking  world  a  century  ago."  The  sanitary  condi- 
tions of  the  tenements  is  now  a  matter  of  official  inspection. 
Free  public  baths  are  provided  in  many  cities.  Restrictions 
have  been  placed  upon  the  employment  of  child-labour  and  the 
labour  of  women.  The  sanitary  condition  of  the  factories  is 
the  subject  of  ofiicial  inquiry  and  of  legal  responsibility. 

Before  this  present  great  wave  of  interest  in  the  health  of 


152       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

children  subsides,  we  must  get  our  boards  of  education  to  in- 
corporate into  their  structures  this  provision  for  the  creation  of 
departments  of  school  hygiene. 


Without  basis  of  good  health  for  our  children  our  other 
efforts  are  of  little  value.  Our  education,  science,  literature, 
architecture,  and  even  our  religion  are  of  no  avail  unless  the 
human  race  itself  remains  healthy  and  sane.  The  schools  are 
now  a  predominant  influence  in  the  lives  of  our  children  and 
must  be  guided  towards  health. — Dr.  Luther  Gulick. 


HOW  TO  REACH  THE  IDEALS 
In  whatever  direction  progress  may  seem  to  lie,  an  ideal  has 
been  erected  as  the  prize  to  be  striven  for  which  shines  forth  in 
our  thoughts ;  but  the  means  of  reaching  it  are  not  also  made 
vivid.  And  therefore  we  honour  the  herculean  toilers  who 
strive  to  cut  direct  roads  towards  the  goal  of  the  ideal.  We 
encourage  self-denial  when  we  should  encourage  self-expres- 
sion. We  try  to  suppress  vices  when  we  should  release 
virtues.  We  laud  country  life  when  we  should  strive  for  the 
improvement  of  cities.  We  judge  the  poor  by  their  family  his- 
tory when  we  should  judge  them  by  their  latent  powers.  We 
impose  penalties  when  we  should  offer  rewards.  We  ask  for 
the  gratitude  of  the  poor  when  we  ought  to  point  out  their 
rights  to  them.  We  dwell  too  long  upon  the  weakness  of  the 
man  who  drinks  and  too  little  upon  why  the  saloon  remains  at 
the  corner The  New  Basis  of  Civilization. 


CHRISTIAN  MEN  FOR  THE  CHRISTIAN  REPUBLIC 

The  possibility  of  the  American  Republic  lies  in  her  people. 
There  never  was  a  greater  mistake  than  to  assume  that  our  institu- 
tions are  safe  because  we  have  free  schools  and  a  free  public  opin- 
ion which  finds  expression  through  a  free  ballot.  China  has  had 
schools,  but  her  people  are  not  blessed.     For  three  centuries 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TEAIL  153 

Spain  had  town  governments  as  independent  and  self-support- 
ing and  as  representative  as  those  of  New  England,  but  her 
people  were  not  prosperous.  De  Tocqueville  says  that  fifty 
years  before  the  great  revolution  public  opinion  was  as  omnip- 
otent in  France  as  it  is  in  America,  but  it  did  not  save  France. 
What  China  and  Spain  and  France  needed  was  men  and  that 
is  what  America  needs  and  must  have ;  men,  men  who  are  pre- 
pared to  look  their  own  destiny  and  their  own  responsibilities 
in  the  face  and  prepare  for  the  destiny  by  meeting  the  responsi- 
bilities. 

This  is  our  need — Christian  manhood.  The  stream  retreats 
to  its  source.  The  heaped  waves  of  the  Atlantic  follow  the 
moon.  The  great  tides  of  political  and  social  achievement  do 
not  rise  above  the  manhood  of  a  nation's  citizens. 

*'  God  give  us  men  !     A  time  like  this  demands 
Clean  minds,  pure  hearts,  true  faith,  and  ready  hand. 
Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will ; 
Men  whom  desire  for  office  does  not  kill ; 
Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy ; 
Men  who  have  honour  ;  men  who  will  not  lie ; 
Tall  men  ;  sun-crowned ;  who  live  above  the  fog 
In  public  duty  and  in  private  thinking." 

Such  men  are  cultured  only  by  Christianity.  Let  Christian- 
ity have  full  play  in  America,  in  her  schools  and  in  her  legis- 
latures, in  her  business  and  in  her  politics,  in  her  homes  and  in 
her  churches  and  there  will  be  developed  a  fine  Americanism 
and  there  is  nothing  finer  than  a  fine  Americanism. — "  Chris- 
tian America,^'' 


"  And  I  remember  still 
The  words,  and  from  whence  they  came, 
Not  he  that  repeateth  the  name 
But  he  that  doeth  the  will. 
And  him  evermore  I  behold 
Walking  in  Galilee, 


154       THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEKS 

Through  the  cornfield's  waving  gold 
By  the  shores  of  the  Beautiful  Sea. 

"  And  that  voice  still  soundeth  on 
From  the  centuries  that  are  gone 
To  the  centuries  that  shall  be! 
From  all  vain  pomps  and  shows, 
From  the  pride  that  overflows, 

*•  Poor  sad  humanity 
Through  all  the  dust  and  heat 
Turns  back  with  bleeding  feet 
By  the  weary  round  it  came. 
Unto  the  simple  thought. 
By  the  great  Master  taught, 
And  that  remaineth  still, 
Not  he  that  repeateth  the  name 
But  he  that  doeth  the  will." 

— Longfellow. 

POINTERS 

1.  Submission  versus  Prevention. 

2.  The  National  Health  Association. 

3.  Diseases    once    thought   hopeless    now    almost   or   quite 

stamped  out. 

4.  Change    in   view  point,  in    morals   also.     Lotteries   and 

"  duels  for  instance,  were  once  accepted  without  question. 

5.  The  Problem  of  the  Underfed. 

6.  How  solved  ?  in  Europe  and  in  America. 

7.  Tenement  House  Reform. 

8.  Playground  Association. 

9.  Vacation  Daily  Bible  Schools. 
10.  The  Juvenile  Court. 

QUESTIONS 

1.  Name  at  least  ten  "  twentieth  century  pioneers  "  who  have 

blazed  a  new  trail  for  altruistic  advance. 

2.  Does  the  Ch«rch  practice  the  old  or  the  new  method  of 

dealing  with  suffering  and  wrong-doing  ? 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TEAIL  155 

3.  Give  Bible  foundations  for  the  new  ways  of  meeting  the 

new  conditions  of  the  twentieth  century  "  frontier." 

4.  What  are  the  present  gains  of  the  Child  Labour  League  ? 

5.  What  are  after-results  of  child  labour  ? 

6.  What  plans  are  in  process  of  formation  in  regard  to  health 

officers  in  public  schools  ? 

7.  Sum  up  present  achievements  of  the  Playground  Associa- 

tion. 

8.  What  is  the  "  Juvenile  Court,"  as  administered  by  Judge 

Lindsay  ? 

9.  How  may  the  Spirit  of  America  as  developed  by  the  old 

frontier  be  fulfilled  in  a  true  Christianity  ? 

FOR  REFERENCE 

Books  : 

"The  New  Basis  of  Civilization." 
**  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis," 
"  The  Social  Teachings  of  Jesus." 
"  The  Church  and  the  Changing  Order." 
Magazines  : 

The  Playground. 
The  World's  Work, 
The  Com??ions. 
Current  Magazines  and 
Daily  Press. 
Special  Articles  : 

"Rural    Development." — The    Common s^  June   6, 

1908. 
"  Art  Brought  into  the  Lives  of  Wage-Earners." — 

Charities,  Feb,  4,  1905. 
"The    Kid  Wot  Works  at  ^\g\i\.:'— Everybody's, 
January,  1908. 

WHY  ARE  THEY  STARVING  ? 

Teachers  say  that  school  children  are  starving  on  the  East 
Side  and  fainting  in  class  rooms  every  morning.  The  situation 
is  so  grave  that  relief  committees  are  organizing  to  open  free 


156        THE  CALL  OF  THE  WATEES 

kitchens.  One  school  principal  testifies  that  he  knows  of  twenty 
pupils  in  his  institution  alone  who  have  been  coming  to  their 
studies  without  breakfast.  Numerous  other  reputable  citizens 
familiar  with  the  Russian  Jewish  quarters  where  the  destitution 
is  reported,  bear  witness  to  a  similar  state  of  affairs  within  their 
respective  circles  of  acquaintance.  There  is,  therefore,  no  good 
reason  for  dismissing  the  whole  matter  as  an  invention  of  soft- 
hearted charity  workers,  or  as  a  sensational  press.  Inasmuch 
as  publicity  will  probably  relieve  the  plight  of  these  hungry 
children,  it  is  pertinent  to  ask  how  circumstances  have  con- 
spired to  cause  such  distress  and  how  a  recurrence  of  present 
conditions  may  be  made  more  difficult. 

School  children  are  starving  partly  because  their  parents  are 
desperately  ignorant,  but  partly  also  as  a  result  of  the  educated 
public's  sluggish  response  to  the  suggestions  and  demands  of 
highly  trained,  experienced  charity  workers.  It  is  significant 
that  the  suffering  is  found  chiefly  among  Russian  Jewish  chil- 
dren. Heavily  hand  icapped  by  Oriental  superstitions,  ignorance 
of  the  English  language  and  American  customs  and  by  an  al- 
most inevitable  clannishness,  the  Russian  Jewish  parent  is  sure 
to  feel  the  pinch  of  poverty  in  dull  times  long  before  the  wide- 
awake, mobile,  optimistic  Italian,  or  the  cleanly,  independent, 
quick-witted  North  European  does.  But  even  this  disadvantage 
might  be  overcome  in  large  measure  if  the  American  people 
would  give  serious  thought  to  the  vital  problem  of  distributing 
labour.  Owing  to  neglect  in  this  matter.  East  Siders  cannot 
find  bread  for  their  children,  while  the  Kansas  farmers'  employ- 
ment bureaus  are  hunting  for  twenty-eight  thousand  farm- 
hands. Thanks  to  it,  in  part,  drunken  ditch-diggers  in  Nevada 
have  all  the  work  they  care  to  undertake  at  four  dollars  a  day, 
while  skilled  mechanics  in  large  Eastern  towns  spend  all  their 
savings  in  an  idle  winter.  The  three  requisites  of  an  effective 
distributing  system  are,  for  all  practical  ends,  wholly  lacking  in 
this  country.  There  is  no  national  or  interstate  employment 
bureau  financed  and  managed  on  a  scale  commensurate  with 
its  duties  and  opportunities.  There  is  no  system  of  cheap  rail- 
way transportation  for  working  men  going  to  and  from  employ- 


BLAZING  A  NEW  TRAIL  157 

ment.  The  "  man  with  the  hoe  "  must  travel  from  town  to 
town  either  at  the  same  rates  which  merchants  pay  or  else  free 
"  on  the  bumpers  "  with  the  "  hoboes."  Finally,  there  are  no  la- 
bour colonies  for  the  reception  on  honourable  terms  of  honest 
working  men  in  times  of  acute  depression.  Is  it  strange  that 
children  go  hungry  on  the  East  Side  ?  Rather  is  it  remarkable 
that  there  is  not  far  more  misery. — New  York  Tribune,  June 
4,  1908. 


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